Source:
https://scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3045762/australias-scott-morrison-regrets-handling-bush-fire-crisis
Asia/ Australasia

Australia’s Scott Morrison regrets handling of bush fire crisis, proposes high-level inquiry

  • The prime minister rejected criticism that not enough was done before the fire season started, but admitted some responses could have been different
  • Cooler weather over the weekend has brought a temporary respite, but a firefighter was killed by a falling tree in Victoria
Prime Minister Scott Morrison admitted that once the fires started, some responses could have been different. Photo: AP

After weeks of criticism over the handling of the bush fires scorching Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday he will propose a national review into the response to the disaster, as the fires claimed another firefighter’s life.

With the Australian bush burning for nearly three months now, killing 28 people, claiming 2,000 homes and raging across millions of acres of land and wildlife, the crisis is becoming increasingly political.

“There is obviously a need for a national review of the response,” Morrison said in an interview with ABC television.

A firefighter keeps an eye on a controlled fire as they work at building a containment line at a bush fire near Bodalla on Sunday. Photo: AP
A firefighter keeps an eye on a controlled fire as they work at building a containment line at a bush fire near Bodalla on Sunday. Photo: AP

Asked whether it should be a Royal Commission, a powerful judicial inquiry, Morrison said: “I think that is what would be necessary and I will be taking a proposal through the cabinet to that end, but it must be done with consultations with the states and territories.”

Bush fires are common during Australia’s summer months, but this fire season started unusually early, often moving quickly and unpredictably, and leaving swathes of the drought-stricken land a scorched earth.

Cooler weather over the weekend brought a temporary respite, with crews saying they have been able to turn from defence to offence for the first time in weeks.

Dale McLean, who is helping manage the response to a fire near the town of Bodalla in New South Wales state, was part of team that was bulldozing down small trees and burning scrub ahead of the fire’s projected path to try to stop it from reaching a major highway by starving it of fuel.

“This fire took a major run about seven or eight days ago, and with the weather changing now, the weather settling down, the fire has settled down,” he said. “The fire behaviour has changed. So we’re able to get in front of the fire now, get on the offensive.”

The weather is expected to remain benign for the next week, although any deterioration in conditions after that could see the wildfires flare up again.

On Sunday, a firefighter was killed after being hit by a falling tree near Omeo in eastern Victoria state. The 60-year-old married father of two was a professional firefighter and commended in November for 40 years of service with the forestry agency.

“Although we do have enormous experience in identifying hazardous trees, sometimes these tree failures can’t be predicted,” Forest Fire Management Victoria Executive Director Chris Hardman said. “Working on the fire ground in a forest environment is a dynamic, high-risk environment and it carries with it significant risk.”

Smoke again sheathed Sydney on Sunday, almost a new normal for the country’s biggest city, moving the air quality into hazardous territory, according to the NSW Department of Primary Industry index.

Facing increasing pressure to do more to tackle climate change, Morrison, who has so far been defiant in rejecting any links between his government’s conservative climate policies and the bush fires, said his government will look into improving its performance on curbing emissions.

“We want to reduce emissions and do the best job we possibly can and get better and better and better at it,” he said. “I want to do that with a balanced policy which recognises Australia’s broader national economic interests and social interest.”

A helicopter prepares to drop water on a bush fire near Cobargo. Photo: AP
A helicopter prepares to drop water on a bush fire near Cobargo. Photo: AP

Morrison rejected criticism that his government had not done enough before the bush fire season started, but he admitted that once the fires started, some responses could have been different.

“There are things I could have handled on the ground much better,” he said. “These are sensitive environments, there are very emotional environments; prime ministers are flesh and blood too in how they engage with people.”

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said that the federal government should have acted earlier to address the disaster.

“The fact is that bush fires don’t recognise state and territory boundaries,” Albanese said.

“And nor should the need for national leadership.”

Meanwhile, US tennis star Serena Williams donated her US$43,000 winner’s check from New Zealand’s ASB Classic to the fundraising appeal for victims of the wildfires, joining many other tennis stars to pledge money.

Additional reporting by Associated Press