Goverbment Fails On Bushfire Water Planning
Government Fails On Bushfire Water Planning
24 June 2008
published by http://tas.greens.org.au
Australia — The Tasmanian Greens today reacted with astonishment torevelations in Budget Estimates Committee that the Department of PrimaryResources and Water has done no work on the availability of water resources tofight bushfires in Tasmania.
Greens Deputy Leader Nick McKim MP said that history shows that there aremany Tasmanian communities that are vulnerable to wildfire and accused thegovernment of being asleep at the wheel on the issue of risk reduction andplanning for bushfire response.
The Department rightly works hard on assessing the water needs of theagriculture sector, but surely the government should also be considering thewater requirements of local communities wanting to defend life and property frombushfires, Mr McKim said.
Tasmanian communities are extremely vulnerable to wildfire and in thatcontext it beggars belief that this government has not done a full riskassessment to inform strategic planning on the availability of water to fightbushfires in Tasmania.
