The Green’s Nick McKim should be ashamed for taking pot-shots at firefighters.
As fire personnel from Tasmania, interstate and overseas put their lives in harm’s way, the Greens have chosen to attack their professionalism.
At no stage has the Tasmanian Fires Service rejected an offer of assistance from Defence.
Following ongoing liaison between the TFS and Defence it was determined that Defence assistance wasn’t required because Defence was unlikely to provide any further practical assistance beyond that currently available from our own firefighters, other states and overseas.
In other words, Defence did not have any equipment or expertise that we had not already sought and received from other States, as is the normal process.
Senator McKim should apologise for his cheap shot.
It may come as a surprise to Senator McKim that Defence does not have battalions of fire fighters or specialised water bombing equipment. Defence fights wars, not fires.
As a Government we value our wilderness and recognise it is an natural asset that sets us apart from the world.
That’s why the protection of these areas is being considered as a part of Tasmania’s fire management strategy, including deploying remote area fire crews to specific wilderness areas, putting lines around areas of high conservation value and aerial surveys to identify other areas that may require protection.
But as the fire chief has emphasised, the biggest challenge has not been resources, it is the remote location of the fires. Of the 1.6 million hectares of world heritage land in Tasmania, about 1.2 percent are known to be fire affected . For context, in 2013 (when the Greens were in Government), more than 40,000 ha was fire affected in the Giblin River fire.
I don’t recall Senator McKim jumping up and down calling for the army then.
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