The Nationals’ MP for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, has told State Parliament that government policy is setting Victorians up for another mega-fire.
Speaking on the Park and Public Land Legislation Bill, Mr Bull outlined how government decisions have increased fire risk across the state.
“The Bushfire Royal Commission – the highest form of inquiry in this country, led by the most pre-eminent experts – recommended a minimum of five per cent of the bush be burned annually to provide a basic level of safety,” he said.
“This government, however, is burning less than a quarter of that recommendation, and has been doing so for years.”
Mr Bull said Labor replaced the Royal Commission’s recommendation with a figure produced by an internal review overseen by one of its own bureaucrats.
“It took the advice it wanted to hear, not what the experts recommended.
The result was the 2019–20 mega-fire. The experts warned this would happen when fuel loads got to that level – and now, six years later, the situation in many areas is even worse due to highly flammable regrowth.”
He said the government’s so-called Safer Together policy had delivered the opposite outcome.
“Fuel loads are again at record levels.
If we dodge a bullet this year, it will only be luck – another mega-fire is inevitable if the work isn’t done. It cannot end any other way with record fuel loads, there is no other possible outcome,” he said.
Mr Bull added that while climate change often gets blamed, the real problem is fuel build-up.
“I’m not a climate change sceptic, but regardless of whether the climate trends warmer or cooler, unmanaged fuel loads combined with lightning strikes and hot summers will inevitably lead to larger, more dangerous bushfire.
“Regular fuel reduction gives our firefighters a fighting chance, but not at the current fuel load levels,” he said.
