Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements – First Hearing Block closes today

An overview of the last two weeks of Royal Commisison hearings and links to transcripts and submissions.

News Roundup May 12

Better bushfire evacuation planning is one of the lead stories on this weeks news roundup.
When people get trapped on roads while trying to evacuate there is real potential for catastrophe.

NSW Bushfire Enquiry: Signing Off on This Years Scapegoat

Roger Underwood opined in Quadrant Online that the outcomes from the NSW Bushfire Enquiry could be expected to be delivered on true “Yes Minister” lines.
We shouldn’t expect the NSW Enquiry to seriously criticise the performance of its own government. The Royal Commission may produice a better result.

News Roundup May 5

A news roundup from across the country for the last week. The failure to distribute half of the bushfire appeal funds is the headline story.

Bushfire Bunkers a Royal Commission Hot Potato

Craig Lapsley succeeded in getting formal safety standards for fire bunkers implemented in Victoria over a decade ago. In NSW the RFS remain ‘dead against them’ according to this informative Sydney Morning Herald article.

AMTA Submission to the Royal Commission

Maintaing the integrity of our telecommunications infrastructure during bushfires is critical. It is therefore encouraging to see the telecommunications industry working together to document their experiences during this summers fires and present their findings to the Royal Commission.

Bushfire Royal Commission Up and Running

The Royal Commission is up and running and you can find a link to the Opening and the complete transcrpt in this post.
We also review an excellent Sydney Mormning Herald article which quotes VFFA President Mick Holton.

Resilience

Early in 2019, Vic Jurskis warned on the Volunteer Fire Fighters Association website, that in the event of severe fire weather, all the bush from Bairnsdale to Sydney would be incinerated due to an unprecedented accumulation of three-dimensionally continuous fuel. In extreme weather, such fuel inevitably creates firestorms with long distance ember showers. Firebreaks, fire engines and waterbombers can’t stop them.

In this article, Vic shares his thoughts as the NSW Fire inquiry reviews 1000 submissions.

Comprehensive Kangaroo Valley Submission to the NSW Enquiry

Captain Matthew Gray and his team from the Kangaroo Valley Community Busshfire Committee have completed a comprehensive submission to the NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry.
Kangaroo Valley look to be leading the way in proper community consultation and the submission really highlights the benefits that can be achieved. It also shows the importance of devolving responsibility to a local level and involving all government agencies in the solution.

Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements

The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements was established on 20 February 2020 in response to the extreme bushfire season of 2019-20 which resulted in loss of life, property and wildlife and environmental destruction.

Referred to as the ‘Bushfires Royal Commission’, the Commission will examine coordination, preparedness for, response to and recovery from disasters as well as improving resilience and adapting to changing climatic conditions and mitigating the impact of natural disasters. The inquiry will also consider the legal framework for Commonwealth involvement in responding to national emergencies.

The Commission is now accepting public submissions on the 2019-20 bushfire season from individuals, community groups and the broader community.

Submissions will now close Tuesday 28th April 2020.

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