A new front has flared in Australia’s culture wars as politicians bicker over who is to blame for devastating bushfires that have killed three people – while the country burns.
The political firestorm erupted as bushfires ravaged the nation, burning across a million hectares and threatening Australia’s largest city.
As fires menaced large tracts of NSW and Queensland the Greens fired the first shot, accusing the Coalition Government of making the bushfires worse by failing to combat climate change.
Politicians are bickering over who is to blame for devastating bushfires that have killed three people – while the country burns
But Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and his Nationals lieutenants quickly hit back, pointing the finger at the Greens who they accused of stymieing preventative burning efforts with green tape.
Vivian Chaplain, 69, George Nole, 85, and Julie Fletcher, 63, were killed when a bushfire tore through northern NSW on Friday.
Hundreds of homes around the state and more in Queensland burned to the ground and hundreds of thousands of hectares of bush is blackened.
Greens MP Adam Bandt took just six hours after the first death was announced to hold climate change policy responsible.
‘I’m deeply saddened by the loss of life. Hearts go out to all affected & to brave firefighters. But words & concern are not enough,’ he tweeted on Saturday.
‘The PM does not have the climate emergency under control. Unless we lead a global effort to quit coal & cut pollution, more lives will be lost.’
Greens MP Adam Bandt took just six hours after the first death was announced to hold climate change policy responsible
Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development Minister Michael McCormack labeled comments from Greens MP Adam Bandt about the bushfires as ‘stupid and despicable’
Mr McCormack responded by attacking Mr Bandt, and the Greens at large, for politicising the bushfires while lives were still under threat.
‘[Fire victims] don’t need the ravings of some pure, enlightened and woke capital-city greenies at this time when they’re trying to save their homes,’ he said.
Mr Bandt, who represents inner-city Melbourne, then called the Deputy PM a ‘dangerous fool who is putting lives at risk’.
‘By denying the climate crisis, his & Morrison’s government is failing in its first duty to do everything they can to protect the Australian people,’ he said.
He later doubled down after Prime Minister Scott Morrison offered platitudes in his statements and to victims on the ground.
‘Thoughts and prayers are not enough, we need science and action too,’ Mr Bandt retorted.
‘They’ve done everything in their power to make these catastrophic fires more likely. When you cuddle coal in Canberra, the rest of the country burns.’
In the ensuring political firestorm, the finger of blame was pointed at Greens policies.
Fires are seen burning on both sides of the Pacific Highway, north of Nabiac in the Mid North Coast region of NSW
Firefighters have been on high-alert since early Tuesday morning, with a mix of scorching temperatures and winds of up to 90km/h sparking a ‘catastrophic’ warning (pictured: Residents defending a property at Hillsville near Taree)
Volunteer firefighter Tyson Smith attacked environmental authorities for curbing controlled burning that removes fuel that makes fires burn stronger and faster.
‘These enviro authorities that put a stop to reduction burns need to be held personally accountable for the losses people have endured,’ he said.
‘The fuel loading we are seeing out on the ground is ridiculous. We are looking at 5-10 years of growth, this fuel source is making these fires untouchable, we can’t even get near them to fight them.’
Former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce agreed and pointed the finger directly at The Greens who he accused of pushing such policies.
‘We haven’t had the capacity to easily access (hazard) reduction burns because of all of the paperwork that is part of green policy,’ he told The Australian.
‘So many of the practicalities of fighting a fire and managing it have been stymied by the Greens.’
Volunteer firefighter Tyson Smith blasted the environmental authorities for stopping reduction burns
Mr Joyce argued the left-wing party was just using the fires to score political points as Australian policy had no impact on climate change.
Australia only produces 1.3 per cent global emissions, and it would take China, with 27.5 per cent, and the U.S. with 14.75 per cent cutting their to make a dent.
A 2002 federal parliamentary issues paper by the Science, Technology, Environment and Resources Group reported that more fuel meant more heat in bushfires.
‘Research has found that doubling the fuel in the forest will double the rate of spread and quadruple the fire intensity,’ the paper said.
‘Fuel reduction burning can reduce the hazard of spotting from eucalypt bark, in some cases for up to seven to 10 years.’
The royal commission into the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria came to a similar conclusion.
However, experts called Mr Joyce’s claims about the Greens being behind less backburning ‘tired old conspiracy theories’.
Former NSW fire and rescue commissioner Greg Mullins wrote in the SMH on Monday that it was simply the weather that was to blame.
‘Blaming ‘greenies’ for stopping these important measures is a familiar, populist, but basically untrue claim,’ he wrote.
Former NSW Fire and Rescue commissioner Greg Mullins (right) is seen pitching in at a fire station in Sydney’s northern beaches just prior to his retirement
Instead, it was hotter and drier conditions and higher fire danger ratings that were preventing agencies from carrying out prescribed burning.
University of Wollongong Professor Ross Bradstock, who has been studying bushfires for 40 years, said Mr Joyce’s claims were ‘without foundation’.
‘It’s simply conspiracy stuff. It’s an obvious attempt to deflect the conversation away from climate change,’ he told the Guardian.
The Greens then released a strongly worded statement declaring its support for hazard reduction burns and backburning ‘when guided by the best scientific, ecological and emergency service expertise’.
‘Attempts by right-wing pundits and politicians to place the blame on the Greens represent the worst kind of dishonest politics,’ it said.
‘The Coalition has spent six years in office ignoring the chief cause – the drying of our landscape caused by severe climate change, which is the result of continuing to mine, burn and export coal, oil and gas.’
Bushfire evacuees have been packed what they can and leaving. Above, a secured load at a property near Koorainghat, near Taree on the NSW north coast on Tuesday
Around 50 homes were damaged or destroyed on Tuesday, adding to dozens more over the weekend. Pictured: Cars burnt in Glenreagh, NSW on Wednesday
Opposition figures instead pointed to the NSW Government’s cuts to fire services for allowing less controlled burns to be completed.
This included 35.4 per cent from Fire and Rescue NSW and 75.2 per cent from the Rural Fire Service’s capital budget in the 2019 state budget.
As if the bickering couldn’t get even more heated, Mr Joyce took it to another level on Tuesday by being seen as using fire victims to attack The Greens.
‘I acknowledge that the two people who died were most likely people who voted for the Green party, so I am not going to start attacking them,’ he told Sky News.
His comments invoked stinging rebukes from all side of politics, starting with Labor senator Kristina Keneally at a Senate estimates hearing.
‘How does he know who they voted for and why does it matter? They’re dead. They died in a bushfire. Isn’t that enough? Do you think it matters who they voted for?’ she said.
Nationals backbencher Barnaby Joyce has suggested two people who died in NSW bushfires ‘most likely’ voted for the Greens
Her colleague, Senator Jordan Steele-John, went even further in attacking the government for its ‘dereliction of duty’.
‘You are no better than a bunch of arsonists, borderline arsonists, and you should be ashamed,’ he said in parliament.
Even Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said Mr Joyce’s comments were inappropriate.
‘We believe it’s not an appropriate time to bring politics into the debate while these same fires continue to burn,’ he said.
‘The time for policy discussions is not in the middle of people literally fighting for their homes and survival.’
Houses in the danger area at South Turramurra were left covered in pink fire retardant after an RFS Hercules helicopter drop
Smoke blocked out the sun and ash and fiery embers rained down on South Turramurra, soon followed by fire retardant dropped from an RFS plane that turned roofs, cars, pets, and residents pink
Liberal Senator Gerard Rennick made even more outlandish claims when he accused the Bureau of Meteorology of fiddling with its figures in a conspiracy to support a ‘global warming agenda’.
Members of the public, including fire victims, have responded to the political insult trading with anger.
Nimbin resident Ginger O’Brien shouted at Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese as he spoke in the North Coast town, before angrily remonstrating with the state Labor member for Lismore, Janelle Saffin.
‘Shame on you, your house is not burning. My house is burning down, what are you doing? Nothing!’ Ms O’Brien shouted into the Labor MP’s face.
‘You’re laughing, you’re having a circus, you’re playing with fire, fire! That’s all burning!’
Ms O’Brien, who said her husband was a RFS volunteer, also had plenty of fury for the Coalition state government
‘We are frightened for them and the government is not supporting the firefighters,’ she said.
‘All my friends are out there, my whole life is out there, everything. If the fire moves west they’re trapped, why don’t you do something?’
A furious exchange between Nimbin resident Ginger O’Brien and state member for Lismore Janelle Saffin was caught on camera as Ms O’Brien accused politicians of ‘playing with fire’
Ms O’Brien (pictured right) said the politicians were only creating a circus for themselves and were doing nothing to help as her house burned
Many in northern NSW blamed government climate change policy for the fires that threatened on destroyed their homes.
In an open letter published in the Guardian, Glen Innes mayor Carol Sparks, whose own home burned down, said warnings from climate scientists were ignored.
‘The anger is real. The anger is justified. Because this disaster was all foreseen and predicted,’ she wrote.
‘For decades the link between a hotter, drier climate, land-clearing, excessive irrigation and increased fire risk have all been attested in scientific papers.
‘Equally for decades there have been those who insist they know better. Their ignorance and arrogance have delivered us only ashes – let these now be swept away.’
Protesters led by Jacqui Mumford, lead organiser of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, converged in the NSW Parliament on Tuesday with similar complaints.
‘We were feeling a lot of anger and grief about the fires and seeing the impacts of climate change right now,’ she told 9 News.
‘For anyone who thinks it’s too soon to be talking about climate change, I would say it’s too late and we should be doing everything we can to address climate change and stop these fires happening again.’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was heckled during a briefing by climate change protester Harry Creamer (pictured) , before being escorted out of the building
The emergency blazes include fires in the Wollemi National Park near Lithgow, at Taree (pictured) on the mid-north coast and inland from Port Macquarie
Ms Mumford, who had to evacuate her home near Taree last week, was joined by other locals who shared their own experiences of the effects of climate change.
Political leaders have finally called for calm with Prime Minister Scott Morrison asking his party members to ‘take it down a few notches’.
‘There have been a lot of provocative comments made over the last few days from all sides of the debate and I find it very unhelpful,’ he said.
‘The last thing that people in an urgent crisis need at the moment is hearing politicians shout at each other.
‘There is a time and a place to debate controversial issues and important issues, right now it’s important to focus on the needs of Australians who need our help.’
Labor Senate leader Penny Wong agreed, stressing that the focus for now should be on firefighters and victims, and the time for assigning blame was later.
‘But I will say, it is the responsible thing, when we are through this current crisis, to focus on what we have to do to keep Australians safe,’ she told parliament.
‘When I was climate minister, scientists were already warning of more intense fire seasons. Regrettably, these warnings have been proved correct.’