Tas bushfire report release imminent
Tas bushfire report release imminent
08 October 2013
published by www.theaustralian.com.au
Australia — THE Tasmanian government says a “warts and all” report into the state’s disastrous January bushfires will be released to the public in coming weeks.
The government has received the independent report of former South Australian police commissioner Malcolm Hyde into the state’s worst fires in 50 years.
Emergency services minister David O’Byrne says cabinet is considering its findings.
“It’s a warts and all view of what happened during the bushfire season and it’s important the Tasmanian community looks at that document and that we learn from it,” Mr O’Byrne told reporters in Hobart.
The minister said he understood the report would be released in its entirety.
The state opposition has accused the government of jeopardising preparations for the looming bushfire season by failing to immediately release the report.
“The Tasmanian communities affected by the terrible fires deserve to know what’s in the report and it is disturbing that Labor and the Greens appear to want to censor it,” spokesperson Elise Archer said.
“No doubt the report will have many recommendations that local communities will need to consider in the lead up to the coming bushfire season.”
Minister O’Byrne said emergency services and government agencies had already begun responding to the lessons of the disaster, which claimed around 400 structures but no lives.
“We are already working on the things that we’ve learnt from last year,” he said.
“I’m not going to seek to play politics about a disaster, I think that’s inappropriate.”
Tasmania Fire Service Chief Officer Mike Brown said bushfire alerts and support for crews on the ground were being tweaked to be more effective.
The Tasmanian government was announcing its $200,000 per year contribution to the new national Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre.
The centre will develop strategies for dealing with bushfires as well as events such as flooding, cyclones and tsunamis.
