Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Emergency Management spokesperson
Changing climatic conditions mean that the No Permit period for burn-offs in Tasmania needs to be reviewed now.
No permit was needed for private property owners to burn off vegetation last Friday, but the following day was a total fire ban in the southern district.
We know that the majority of bushfires around the state in the past few days came from fuel reduction burns in the previous weeks.
Our fire fighters do an incredible job protecting our lives and property. They should have as much information as possible about where fires have been, and will be, lit as well as control over their management.
The bushfire season has come 6-8 weeks earlier than usual. It used to be rare to have extreme fire warnings in early October but, unfortunately, climate change means we have to prepare for these conditions as the new norm.
The government set a fuel reduction burn target of 27,000 hectares in 2014-15.
Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader and Climate Change spokesperson
It has now been confirmed that yesterday was the hottest Spring day since the keeping of records began.
Global warming is happening now. It is a fact of life that all Tasmanian policy makers must have at the front of mind.
The climate science, and now our own lived experience as a community, tells us the bushfire season is starting earlier than it has historically. We need to respond to this by ensuring the fuel reduction program is scientific, strategic and acutely attuned to a changing climate.