FIDDLING AS STATE BURNS

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison and the Coalition Government cannot sit on their hands while our state burns.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk upped the ante this week in her push for Canberra to recognise that bushfires require a “national response”. Having already written to Mr Morrison in September to plead for urgent funding for an aerial tanker to respond to the sort of catastrophic fires that ripped through our region back then, she vowed this week to go it alone if necessary to buy a 737 water bomber.

But she believes there has to be a national approach to dealing with these natural disasters. Given the increasing magnitude and frequency of bushfires, and on the other side of the coin the huge destruction caused by cyclones and – when they happen – floods, responses can no longer be limited to communities or states. Indeed former QFES commissioner Lee Johnson, among the 23 fire and emergency services leaders who tried months ago to no avail to warn Canberra of the looming conflagration and the need to find more aerial water bombers, says cyclones and floods were always Queensland’s primary threats, but that is changing. His argument is backed by the supercharged conditions producing the huge bushfires now destroying forests and threatening entire towns.

Mr Morrison and an army of public servants in Canberra must feel like they are juggling chainsaws when it comes to prioritising funding. But Australia has to act quickly. All that stands between Queenslanders and a disaster of terrifying proportions is the selfless effort of at least 1000 firefighters – mostly volunteers – giving up time with families and from work to face a new breed of fire in a wind-battered landscape turned tinder dry by drought. Yesterday more than 60 fires were burning across the state. In NSW, where four people have died, there were 59.

With the so-called “fire season’’ getting longer each year, states have their backs to the wall and can’t ride to the rescue in other areas while fighting their own battles. Australia cannot keep relying on the level of resources and volunteers used to date. Out-of-season fires on both sides of the Pacific also mean it is harder for Australia and the US to continue providing resources and expertise to each other.

Fires in Queensland and NSW have had authorities under siege for two months and fatigue has become a big issue.

Canberra is obsessed with national security. Billions are poured into the military, and governments keep beefing up anti-terrorism legislation, yet the biggest threat to national security is within our borders – weather and the havoc caused. The Government does not want to discuss climate change while bushfires rage. How ludicrous. This is not about blame. It is the time to talk about solutions and to act.

The threat is with us now, not off in the future. Funding can be found by stopping such questionable defence spending as throwing $50 billion at a fleet of submarines that will not be delivered for decades.

Instead, Australia needs a natural disaster army. It needs its fire and state emergency services, already doing an excellent job against overwhelming odds, to be funded and resourced to the next level. And it needs more dams and forests.