Australia bushfires extinguished, but nation permanently scarred
Australia’s “black summer” of devastating bushfires is finally arriving at a close, but bitter arguments over how exactly to tackle climate-fuelled disasters are raging on.
When firefighters announced this week that blazes in the hard-hit state of New South Wales were under control for the very first time since September, the relief was palpable.
In other regions, a few fires are still being contained, but most Australians can finally abandon the grim rituals of the last half-year - morning checks of smog monitors and “Fires Near Me” apps, deciding if the kids can play outside, whether to flee or defend their homes.
However the after-effects will endure, and national soul searching has recently begun.
“We know events like these can challenge just how we take into account the world, undermine our perceptions of safety, and rupture social bonds,” said disaster response expert Erin Smith.
A large number of families have lost family members, a large number of homes and farms have already been gutted, swathes of the east coast are scarred charcoal-black and millions experienced their sense of security shaken.
“It will likely take years and a lot of imagination for us to figure out where we go from here,” said Smith.
The question of what's next for Australia is already being asked, almost all of all of political leaders, in fact it is being met mostly with finger-pointing and recrimination.
While scientists agree climate change created favourable conditions for the blazes, politicians of most stripes are acutely aware how sensitive the problem is in Australian politics.
Within an arid nation whose monetary strength is intimately linked with the mining and export of fossil fuels, at least four prime ministers have already been ousted in part over their climate policies.
In recent weeks, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has seen his ruling conservative coalition threatened by members in rural constituencies demanding funding for more coal-fired power plants.
Simultaneously, the centrist wing of his party has criticised his climate targets as inadequate.
Meanwhile rebel members of opposition Labor met secretly to steer the centre-left party’s leadership toward a far more overtly pro-coal stance.
The party’s deputy leader awkwardly refused to rule out more coal subsidies, months after vowing they should end.
“They don’t want to stick their heads above the parapet, at least in terms of suggesting substantive policy,” said Matt McDonald, a specialist in climate politics from the University of Queensland.
One reason, he explained, is that as the hot and dry Australian continent is uniquely susceptible to the impact of climate change, additionally it is a world-beating way to obtain coal.
Coal accounts for around 75 % of Australia’s electricity generation and exports of the fossil fuel are worth A$60 billion a year, the country’s greatest export after iron ore.
People in affluent suburbs may call for emissions cuts and green energy, but coal makes up about thousands of jobs in election-deciding districts of Queensland and New South Wales, and much more in the related aluminium smelting business.
Independent MP Zali Steggall - a former barrister and Olympic medal-winning skier - who ousted climate-sceptic former prime minister Tony Abbott from his Sydney seat at the last election, really wants to take some heat from the debate.
She's introduced a bill that would reduce Australia’s carbon emissions to zero by 2050 and divert some contentious issues to an independent expert body.
“The debate has been very divisive,” partly as a result of the blame game, Steggall told AFP. “There was a specific defensiveness in the first days of this debate as the finger was so squarely pointed at coal and fossil fuels.”
“You have to look at a generation that worked really hard at building Australia’s prosperity on fossil fuels. You need to be careful in the debate about apportioning blame. It’s not like it was done deliberately.”
“It’s about recognising and being thankful for that contribution, but acknowledging that people do have to evolve,” s
he added. “We’re all going to get there ultimately.”
With bushfires projected to get a lot more deadly and another season just a little over half a year away, the chance, Steggall says, is that politicians take such a long time to reach consensus “it will be too late to accomplish anything.” - AFP
