Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Fire spokesperson
The Bushfire Inquiry findings paint over the devastation of the summer bushfires in the World Heritage Area. It's as though they never existed.
Not one single recommendation in the Committee's report calls to review procedures or respond to climate change. These were two of the key reasons for submitting a dissenting report. *
Because of the Committee's membership, it was always going to be a whitewash but the denial around the need to change our response to bushfire management is mind-boggling.
Forestry Tasmania and the Parks and Wildlife Service did not provide any evidence to the Government dominated Inquiry. This was despite the fact they're two of the three agencies most involved in bushfire management in Tasmania.
The Inquiry was tasked with investigating fire service resources, the funding of fuel reduction programs and governance practices of the Fire Service, but without information from the key players the findings are distorted.
The report suggests the Committee has investigated the governance, resourcing and funding of our Fire Service, but they actually only looked at a third of it. Parliament should recall the Committee and get them to finish their job properly.
Climate change means temperatures are rising and lightning strikes are predicted to increase, and we need a government that can deal with it. Tasmanian lives, communities and irreplaceable natural values need to be protected.
* Inquiry into the State Fire Commission, Dissenting Statement, attached.
