WEBVTT - Is Australia ready for bushfire season?

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<v Speaker 1>My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

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<v Speaker 1>Bungelung Cargoton woman from Gadigul country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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<v Speaker 1>that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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<v Speaker 1>Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

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<v Speaker 1>Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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<v Speaker 1>first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

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<v Speaker 2>Mister, what nice to see you. Thanks, thanks for taking

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<v Speaker 2>this on the fly.

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<v Speaker 3>That's okay. I've heard a lot about you guys, but

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<v Speaker 3>I don't think I've ever done anything with you.

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<v Speaker 2>Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Tuesday,

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<v Speaker 2>the twenty sixth of September. I'm Sam, I'm Billy.

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<v Speaker 4>I'm the editor of.

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<v Speaker 2>The Daily OS and according to experts, Australia could be

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<v Speaker 2>about to face one of the most challenging bush fire

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<v Speaker 2>seasons in modern history. With record high temperatures already seen

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<v Speaker 2>this month, landscapes are ready to burn after a number

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<v Speaker 2>of rain heavy years an extreme dry heat on the radar,

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<v Speaker 2>Emergency authorities are rushing to prepare for the worst. Yesterday,

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<v Speaker 2>Australia's first National Disaster Preparedness summit got underway. It continues

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<v Speaker 2>today with a full scale emergency simulation. Joining me on

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<v Speaker 2>the podcast today is Australia's Minister for Emergency Management, Murray What.

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<v Speaker 2>He's the person in Anthony Alberanese's government who's in charge

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<v Speaker 2>of making sure Australia is preparing for natural disasters. So

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<v Speaker 2>are we ready for the bush fire season? I'm going

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<v Speaker 2>to put that to him in today's interview, But first,

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<v Speaker 2>Billy what is making headlines this morning?

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<v Speaker 4>New employment measures have been announced to encourage older Australians

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<v Speaker 4>to either keep working or return to work. The government

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<v Speaker 4>has announced incentives for age pension recipients and eligible veterans

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<v Speaker 4>who will be able to work more without their pension

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<v Speaker 4>being impacted under a new bonus scheme. Minister for Social

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<v Speaker 4>Services Amanda Rishworth said the changes would help to remove

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<v Speaker 4>barriers often faced by those looking to re enter the workforce.

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<v Speaker 2>Australia's tourism economy is expected to be boosted by a

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<v Speaker 2>decision to allow Chinese tourism groups to return to Australia.

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<v Speaker 2>Visa processing applications for Chinese tour operators recommenced on Monday

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<v Speaker 2>after a suspension in the wake of the pandemic. The

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<v Speaker 2>government said Chinese Group Tours contributed almost six hundred million

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<v Speaker 2>dollars to the Australian tourism industry in twenty nineteen. That

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<v Speaker 2>represented almost a third of the entire contribution from Chinese

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<v Speaker 2>tourism in Australia.

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<v Speaker 4>And big news for the TV and film industry, the

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<v Speaker 4>Writer's Guild of America has agreed to a tentative deal

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<v Speaker 4>with Hollywood Studios one hundred and forty six days after

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<v Speaker 4>strike action began. The details of the proposed agreement have

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<v Speaker 4>not been made public, but were described by WGA as exceptional.

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<v Speaker 4>A vote to accept the deal is expected to occur

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<v Speaker 4>in the coming days.

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<v Speaker 2>And today's good news, Tigersta Cipher has broken the women's

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<v Speaker 2>marathon world record. A Cipher finished the Berlin Marathon in

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<v Speaker 2>just under two hours and twelve mo minutes. It's more

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<v Speaker 2>than two minutes faster than the record set back in

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<v Speaker 2>twenty nineteen.

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<v Speaker 4>Almost as fast as you can do hesa.

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<v Speaker 2>Really as fast, mister what Welcome to the podcast. Give

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<v Speaker 2>me a sense of where you've come from, where you're

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<v Speaker 2>driving to.

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<v Speaker 5>Today's a bit of a crazy day. Actually, I'm going

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<v Speaker 5>to be going through four different cities today. I started

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<v Speaker 5>out this morning in Canberra where we had the opening

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<v Speaker 5>of the Preparedness Summit, and I'm currently on my way

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<v Speaker 5>to a cabinet meeting in Adelaide. But to get here

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<v Speaker 5>I had to go through Sydney and then I'll be

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<v Speaker 5>flying home to Brisbane tonight. That is an unusually busy day.

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<v Speaker 2>That's a lot of carbon emissions.

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<v Speaker 3>It is. It's not ideal, and it's why we try

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<v Speaker 3>not to do it very regularly.

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<v Speaker 2>And how was the Preparedness Summit announcement with there any

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<v Speaker 2>tangible actions already that've come out of that.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, Look, I think it's been a really good exercise.

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<v Speaker 5>The point of the National Disaster Preparedness Summit, and this

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<v Speaker 5>is the first time one has ever been held, is

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<v Speaker 5>to bring together about two hundred and fifty to three

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<v Speaker 5>hundred tree, government and community leaders to make sure we're

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<v Speaker 5>all on the same page about the coming disaster season.

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<v Speaker 5>I mean, we already know that we're going to be

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<v Speaker 5>facing much hotter, drier conditions than we have really since

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<v Speaker 5>Black Summer.

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<v Speaker 3>And while all the.

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<v Speaker 5>Fire authorities have been working hard for months to be ready,

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<v Speaker 5>it's important we also bring together the community sector and

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<v Speaker 5>the private sector to make sure sure that everyone's on

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<v Speaker 5>the same page, understands what we're likely to be facing

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<v Speaker 5>and is ready to deal with it.

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<v Speaker 2>But from where you're sitting at the moment, do you

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<v Speaker 2>feel like Australia is ready for the bushfire season?

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<v Speaker 3>Yes?

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<v Speaker 5>I do. I feel confident that we're as well prepared

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<v Speaker 5>as we possibly can be, and we're certainly a lot

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<v Speaker 5>better prepared than we were as a country heading into

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<v Speaker 5>black summer. You know, you can never completely eliminate risk

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<v Speaker 5>in a country like Australia, and as I say, whatever

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<v Speaker 5>we do, we know we are going to be facing

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<v Speaker 5>serious bushfires and heat waves then for a while now.

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<v Speaker 5>But the least we can do is make sure that

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<v Speaker 5>everyone's ready, and that's what we're certainly trying to do.

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<v Speaker 2>There's been major natural disasters, bit floods, fires in Australia.

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<v Speaker 2>There's always this discussion that happens, and we often write

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<v Speaker 2>explainers about whose job is it to respond? Is it

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<v Speaker 2>a state government's job to respond? Is it the federal

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<v Speaker 2>government's job to respond? What's your answer to that? Whose

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<v Speaker 2>job is it?

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<v Speaker 5>Look, I think it's clear that primarily states and territories

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<v Speaker 5>have responsibility when it comes to disaster management, but there

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<v Speaker 5>is no doubting that the federal government have an important

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<v Speaker 5>leadership role, and I think that's probably something we've tried

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<v Speaker 5>to do differently from the former coalition government. You know,

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<v Speaker 5>you mon't be hearing elbow talking about not holding a

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<v Speaker 5>hose right fingerpointing at states and things like that.

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<v Speaker 3>So yeah, look, I think that we'll always see disaster.

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<v Speaker 5>Management primarily a state responsibility, but the federal government does

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<v Speaker 5>have that national leadership role. And of course there's particular

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<v Speaker 5>things we do around funding for prevention and recovery. We

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<v Speaker 5>obviously provide the defense forces in critical times as well,

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<v Speaker 5>but bottom line is we want to work cooperatively with

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<v Speaker 5>people and get the best outcome.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm going to discuss the role of the army in

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<v Speaker 2>the Defense Force in all of this, because there's been

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<v Speaker 2>some interesting commentary of the last few days about a

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<v Speaker 2>review that said that the defense force shouldn't really be

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<v Speaker 2>part of the response, it rather should be a last resort.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you agree with that assessment from the review?

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, I do.

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<v Speaker 5>I mean the reality is that our defense forces, their

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<v Speaker 5>key job is obviously the defense of the nation, and

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<v Speaker 5>let's face it, we do live in a bit of

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<v Speaker 5>a more uncertain world these days, and every time we

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<v Speaker 5>take our defense forces out to help with disasters, that

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<v Speaker 5>is time that they're not spending preparing and they're doing

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<v Speaker 5>their training.

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<v Speaker 3>Exercises, which we need them to do.

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<v Speaker 5>Having said that, I want to be really clear that

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<v Speaker 5>in a major crisis situation, I can guarantee people that

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<v Speaker 5>the Defense Forces will be there to help. And an

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<v Speaker 5>actual fact, right now or over the last couple of weeks,

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<v Speaker 5>we've had Defense Force personnel and equipment in the Northern Territory.

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<v Speaker 3>Helping deal with some of the bush buyers up there.

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<v Speaker 5>But what we do need to do is get to

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<v Speaker 5>a point where they're seen as the last resort rather

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<v Speaker 5>than the first port of call.

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<v Speaker 3>You. So, I've seen the Defense Forces in action in

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<v Speaker 3>disaster situations.

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<v Speaker 5>They do an incredible job and there are times when

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<v Speaker 5>only they are up to the job and the equipment

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<v Speaker 5>that they have and the skills they have, But we

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<v Speaker 5>can't over rely on them. We're trying to put in

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<v Speaker 5>place some alternatives as a way of reducing that pressure

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<v Speaker 5>but still making sure Australians get the support they need.

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<v Speaker 2>So let's have a think about those alternatives. I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>we've got declining numbers of volunteer firefighters, and one of

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<v Speaker 2>the interesting ideas that's been tabled this week has been

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<v Speaker 2>a future where young Australians could potentially have some sort

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<v Speaker 2>of national mandatory community service, so you could see young

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<v Speaker 2>people actually serving their time as a volunteer firefighter. What

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<v Speaker 2>do you think of that model?

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<v Speaker 5>Look, I probably don't support mandating those kind of things

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<v Speaker 5>for people.

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<v Speaker 3>I think people should be given those sorts of options.

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<v Speaker 5>But I do think that there probably are some young

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<v Speaker 5>people who might be interested in a voluntary form of

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<v Speaker 5>service that is probably more about disaster preparation and resilience,

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<v Speaker 5>which obviously has a strong environmental connection as well, a

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<v Speaker 5>bit like say the Army reserves. Not every young person

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<v Speaker 5>is going to want to go into the Army reserves,

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<v Speaker 5>but there might be the younger people who are interested

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<v Speaker 5>in doing something that's about helping prevent environmental damage from

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<v Speaker 5>disasters and things like that. But it's not as if

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<v Speaker 5>that would be the only option, and we're a long

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<v Speaker 5>way from making those decisions yet. As I say, one

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<v Speaker 5>option might be simply about helping the states and territories

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<v Speaker 5>to build up their volunteer forces, given they are primarily

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<v Speaker 5>in charge.

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<v Speaker 2>Should we be paying for volunteer fire fighters?

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<v Speaker 5>Look, I think we've probably given the scale of the

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<v Speaker 5>task that we face, I think we are always going

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<v Speaker 5>to be relying on volunteers to a degree. But I

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<v Speaker 5>remember through Black Summer and even since then, I've met

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<v Speaker 5>volunteers all around the country and there is a high

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<v Speaker 5>level of fatigue because of how much people have been

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<v Speaker 5>relied on. There are some states and territories at the

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<v Speaker 5>moment who have what are called auxiliary firefighters, who are

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<v Speaker 5>people who are effectively put on part time employment, particularly

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<v Speaker 5>during fire seasons, and that's what they do in some

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<v Speaker 5>other countries as well, So they might be scope for

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<v Speaker 5>that kind of thing. But I don't think it's realistic

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<v Speaker 5>to think that every single person who helps out in

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<v Speaker 5>a disaster situation is going to be a paid employee.

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<v Speaker 5>And I think there's something about the Australian spirit about

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<v Speaker 5>volunteering to help out each other in those situations as well.

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<v Speaker 2>Last question from me. Let's say that you and I

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<v Speaker 2>are having a chat in April or May next year,

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<v Speaker 2>and I ask you how the fire season was. What

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<v Speaker 2>would a successful bush fire season look like to you?

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<v Speaker 5>It would be a season where everyone who had a

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<v Speaker 5>role to play, came together and did the very best

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<v Speaker 5>they could without trying to apportion blame and try to

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<v Speaker 5>buck pass and avoid responsibility.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, I can't guarantee.

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<v Speaker 5>That we won't lose properties, and god forbid, even lives

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<v Speaker 5>or animals or environmental damage.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, they are always risks in disaster seasons.

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<v Speaker 5>But what I want to make sure of is that

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<v Speaker 5>we are as well prepared as we possibly can and

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<v Speaker 5>that we all cooperate.

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<v Speaker 3>When things get real.

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<v Speaker 5>And if we do that, I think we can really

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<v Speaker 5>limit the damage and limit the loss of life, which

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<v Speaker 5>is really what we need to be about at WATT.

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<v Speaker 2>Thanks for joining us on the road. We appreciate your time.

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<v Speaker 4>Great to jalk Sam, thank you so much for listening

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<v Speaker 4>to this episode of The Daily Ez. If you liked it,

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<v Speaker 4>you can leave us a review on Spotify or Apple

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<v Speaker 4>and Salmon Zara will be back with you tomorrow