Dozens Of Australian Emergency Response Professionals Slam Coalition's "Fumbling" Flood Actions
Dozens of the nation’s top emergency chiefs, who spoke out in the wake of the devastating bushfires two years ago, have now criticised the Morrison government’s “fumbling” response to the floods disaster.
Thirty-seven members of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, led by former NSW fire and rescue commissioner Greg Mullins, say the government was warned in October last year about the prospect of massive flooding over summer, and did not adequately prepare for the devastation that has resulted in New South Wales and Queensland.
“The government knew what was coming and it did not adequately prepare our communities or first responders,” Mullins said. “Time and again this government fails to listen to expert advice. There are 80 recommendations of the royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements gathering dust. The government has failed to implement them. “Those of us who do hold hoses know just how dangerous climate change has become. Australia is under-prepared, and Canberra has no answers to how it will rapidly slash emissions this decade.”
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Former deputy director general of the NSW State Emergency Service and flood expert Chas Keys said the disaster shows business as usual can’t continue, and there needs to be a drastic cut back on mining and the burning of fossil fuels.
e said there also needed to be a reset in managing disasters, with more focus currently on relief and recover and not mitigation. "There is no more manageable hazard in Australia than flooding: we know where it will occur, we’re usually warned ahead of it and we can predict what its effects will be. We’re just not managing this risk well, and it hurts us over and over again to a greater extent than it should.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/14/emergency-chiefs-slam-coalitions-fumbling-response-to-floods-claiming-they-were-warned-of-a-potential-crisis