Climate Refugees

In Australia, debate regarding climate change has become as divisive as seeking asylum.

I felt a sense of trepidation when penning a column regarding the topic.

You can't talk about it during the depths of a natural disaster because it is insensitive, nor can you talk about climate change when the landscape is calm because it doesn't resonate. Consequently, we already have climate change fatigue before beginning a coherent response.

Four bushfires, in recent times, have stopped me in my tracks. The Canberra blaze of 2003 where four people died, and 470 homes were destroyed. The Victorian Black Saturday tragedy of 2009 when 180 people perished, and more than 1800 homes were destroyed. The 2013 Tasmanian fires where more than 170 buildings were destroyed, burning 49,000 acres, and the current 2019 Northern NSW and Queensland predicament with at least four people losing their lives.

I wasn't alive for the Black Tuesday 1967 fires across Hobart where 62 people died, and 1293 buildings were destroyed, however Richard Flanagan's Booker Prize winning novel, Narrow Road to the Deep North emotionally describes those events when the main character Diego Evans is driving to Fern Tree:

"Coming round a corner the black sky gave way to a huge, red wall of fire, perhaps half a mile away, flames rising far above them. This was a new fire, roaring up from a different direction, and it seemed to be joining several small fires in a single inferno. The noise of it was overwhelming."

The term catastrophic has such a different meaning across Australia than ever before. The Tasmania Fire Service website informs us, in part, that a catastrophic fire danger warning means:

·        Most fires will be uncontrollable, unpredictable and fast moving.

·        Flames will higher than roof tops.

·        Thousands of embers will be blown around.

It's bloody scary just thinking about it.

But sometimes we must discuss these matters and, in times of extreme circumstances, it's often community leaders who ditch political speak and describe the situation and the challenges we face whom I admire. Mid-Coast Council (Mid-North Coast NSW) Deputy Mayor, Claire Pontin was one such leader last week when explaining, in a radio interview, the impact of the fast-moving fires, why they have been so difficult to control, and the significant and recent change to the landscape.

"This country is dairy country. Twenty-years ago it was rolling green hills.

...we're experiencing the driest conditions here in over 130 years. And it's the lowest average river flows we've had for the 75 years we've had on record,

...the fire trucks can not get into the State Forests and the National Parks around here. And the firies can not get in there because the fire tracks that used to be open once upon a time have all been closed down. So, the situation here is that they've had to wait for a road or a property boundary before they can actually tackle it.

...I'm not aware of any significant back-burning that has happened around here for a long time," she told Radio National Breakfast.

Climate change is a challenging concept and difficult to explain to punters who are far more focused on their daily grind. The conversation matters, but it has become deeply divisive and we've struggled to find a leader who can unite.

It is made even more difficult because traditional Australian Industries in regional areas that have relied upon traditional fuels for traditional jobs now find it extremely difficult to compete with Asia's ability to manufacture quality goods at a much cheaper price.

In Tasmania, the downturn of the forestry industry will result in fire trails becoming overgrown and inaccessible as the Parks and Wildlife Service struggles to fill the void. As a community, we must remain cognizant of the risk.

What we desperately require is a language of consensus that encourages and facilities disagreement. Not aggressiveness or blame or hatred, rather civil debate that leads to better decisions. At present, that style of democracy appears, sadly, out of reach.

Protecting people and property must remain the key focus.

However, when former chief fire officer of the Tasmanian Fire Service Mike Brown joined 22 former state fire and emergency leaders and faced the media last week, we should all take notice. Retired NSW Fire and Emergency Chief Greg Mullins offered:

"We're all so concerned by the temperature increases, the reductions in rainfall, the more severe droughts, the stronger winds, the lower humidiities. We knew that a bushfire crisis was coming," he said.

Let's ditch the divisiveness and find consensus.