The Report we have all been waiting for has at last been released … all 1,000 pages of it.
The initial impression is that it has done what it was meant to do in terms of better defining Federal-State relationships and how they should operate in a disaster environment.
Some of the suggestions – like getting a common standard across the country for emergency information and warnings is just plain common sense and will hopefully be adopted straight away.
Air quality according to the Commission killed 10 times more people than the fires did last summer and getting proper national standards of measurement and reporting make a lot of sense.
The Commission appeared to properly understand the role of the community in developing a more resilient Australia and in a number of places made the point that people need to take personal responsibility for their own safety and cannot expect a tanker or water bomber at their beck and call.
If you were looking for a Commonwealth mandated hazard reduction recommendation you may be disappointed but there is a whole section of the report dedicated to Public & Private Land Management and another section devoted to Indigenous Land & Fire Management. The Commission understood the importance of local knowledge in this respect.
No doubt we can look forward to a lot more commentarty in the days ahead. Some good bed time reading for the whole nation!
