On the National Memorial Day for fire and emergency services, Prime Minister Scott Morrison read aloud, from Parliament House, the names of 14 responders who lost their lives to bushfire last summer. Following the Prime Ministerโs press conference, member for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain and Labor leader Anthony Albanese joined Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action on the Parliament House lawns, where the group called for stronger action on climate change – from all political parties.
Bushfire survivor Jan Harris lost her house to the Tathra/Reedy Swamp bushfire in March 2018.
The fire destroyed 65 homes, 35 caravans and cabins and displaced 700 residents and visitors.
Ms Harris said she wanted the government to stand with bushfire-affected communities, to acknowledge their loss and to present a clear agenda for climate change.
Ms Harris said it โwould have been niceโ for the government to have released the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements final report to the public today.
โWe want to know what the governmentโs response is,โ Ms Harris said.
โThe Royal Commissions interim report mentioned climate change, but itโs disappointing they havenโt tabled the final report yet.โ
Mr Albanese said he expected the Government to release the report after question time tomorrow.
โBut we will hold them to account,โ he said.
Ms McBain said there were already โmany recommendationsโ for bushfire recovery that โhavenโt been taken upโ.
โFrom Iโve come from over the last year, Iโve been the mayor of the Bega Valley for four years,โ she said.
โWeโve had three catastrophic bushfires.
โI think weโre all asking for action. Weโre asking for action on mitigation because we know there is funding that havenโt been spent yet.
โWeโre asking for action to make sure there are land managers.
โWeโre asking for action on climate change
โWeโre asking for action to make sure our communities donโt have to go through the same situations year-on, year-out.โ
