Well yeah, I've been through all the previous weather events too. But we're getting once-in-a-decade or once-in-a-century events every year now. Something extraordinary is happening and it's pretty bloody silly to just blame one thing or ignore it.
My approach is that of an investor managing risk. When protecting a priceless asset like Australia you cover all bases. Yes, hazard reduction is an issue. So is arson, though that's been greatly overstated of late. But the overwhelming evidence is that the bushfire season is longer, the land is drier, and the window of opportunity for hazard reduction is reducing.
We should have acted on that basis and didn't. So more work needed to be done on hazard reduction, and we should look at Aboriginal cold burning techniques. We need five times our current firefighting capacity and resources. We need to change building codes and where we allow people to build. Arson needs to be in the same criminal category as terrorism and sentenced accordingly.
Those should be our first set of priorities. But yes, we also need to cut emissions too. We can't do it all by ourselves and we're a small part of global emissions, but it needs to be done. When you look at the damage done by constant extreme weather events, it makes economic sense in the long-term.
