The Fires, Summer 2013: Climate Change?

Our thoughts and hearts are with firefighter crews dealing with extreme bushfires across NSW, and with everyone in the affected communities. All strength to you.

When disasters happen we need to talk about how to stop them happening again. The Greens want more and better disaster funding. That’s why we are calling for a national Extreme Weather Fund to help communities be better prepared and recover faster from disasters like we are seeing now. 

There are misconceptions about our position on fuel reduction that it’s important to clear up. The Greens support fire fuel reduction burns. They are a part of science-based comprehensive fire management strategies, which include better planning for housing sites, community education and well-funded fire services.

It is frightening, but we also need to have a proper national conversation about what we are facing as a country because of global warming. The science tells us that it is already causing more extreme weather. Bushfires, floods and heat waves are some of the consequences of our warming world, and we need to be honest about that – and have a plan to cut the pollution that’s driving the warming we’re already seeing.