Former NSW Fire Chiefs Are Pushing The Government To Declare A Climate Emergency
“Climate change is supercharging the bushfire problem in Australia'
A group of retired fire chiefs have confirmed they’re pretty sick of continuously calling out the government for ignoring the obvious cause of Australia’s bushfires — climate change.
Tired of yelling into the void that is partisan politics, a group of them called a press conference to say they’d much rather be enjoying their retirement, than chiding politicians for not doing their jobs (I’m paraphrasing).
Former NSW RFS Commissioner Greg Mullins has been especially vocal after being fobbed off by the Prime Minister for months.
Very powerful press conference from former fire chiefs from across all states. So much respect for Greg Mullins. Climate Action now! #auspol #NSWfires #ClimateEmergency https://t.co/nbzJmuQPGd
— Narayan Khanal (@narayan7_0) November 14, 2019
“This government fundamentally doesn’t like talking about climate change,” he said.
“We’ve been trying to call on the Prime Minister and the government since April this year to meet because we could see what was happening.
“Our communities are increasingly under threat from extreme weather driven events caused by climate change. If it’s not time now to speak about climate change and what’s driving these events, when?
Because the LNP government refused to talk about it before the crisis and they’ll refuse to commission an inquiry afterwards (or gag the terms of reference to avoid mentioning anything unflattering to them) so the ONLY time is now
— Sharon Moller (@Runrideabike) November 14, 2019
This week pollies including Scott Morrison, Gladys Berejiklian and Barnaby Joyce have tried to shut down climate change talk by saying the focus should be on the emergency response, and not on political discussions.
Greg wasn’t having any of that.
“None of us can understand why climate change in Australia is so political,” he said.
“It’s OK to say that it’s arsonists fault or pretend that the greenies are stopping hazard reduction burning, which simply isn’t true, but you’re not allowed to talk about climate change. Well we are, because we know what’s happening.”
“Climate change is supercharging the bushfire problem in Australia”
Outstanding comments by Greg Mullins – why has global warming a scientific fact become political.
— Don (@DonavianThe) November 13, 2019
@ScottMorrisonMP Please listen to Greg Mullins, he is speaking truth & common sense. Australians are increasingly disgusted by your obfuscation & failure to act responsibly on climate change. #attnscottmorrison #ClimateEmergency https://t.co/Pkw3Xf9S1X
— Pale blue dot (@ofpalebluedot) November 14, 2019
He also acknowledged comments by our Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, who earlier this week said the only people worried about climate change were “raving inner-city lunatics”.
“There’s been some interesting political dialogue, I’m not even going to dignify it with comment,” he said.
“You have a group of 23 former fire and emergency chiefs who have varying political views and backgrounds. They’ve all come together because they’re vitally concerned for the future of our planet and of Australia.”
The group are now pushing for the government to declare a climate emergency and for a bipartisan approach to emission reduction.