MEGA LINKS POST - the truth about the Greens, bushfires and backburnings

As the horror summer of bushfires continues in Australia, we keep seeing the zombie rumours that the scale of the fires are the fault of the Greens preventing back burning operations, allowing for the build up of fuel in fire prone areas. This post is a collection of reliable and verifiable sources with the as much info as I can find, showing the truth about the Greens fire policies, back burning, climate change, arson, the role of the Morrison government, and a whole lot of other misinformation about the fires.



Photo: Indiahsam (from Instagram)


Australian Greens bushfire risk policies, see particularly "6. Prescribed burning is only one method of fuel management and should be considered in the context of other available options and the management objectives of the land in question;" (not a ban) and that the Greens support "17. The payment of compensation to volunteer members of the Rural Fire Service for loss of salaries and recreational opportunities during extended firefighting activities". These policies have NOT changed recently. I know, because I've been sharing them with people who try to blame the Greens for years.

First off: Climate change is making bushfires worse — here's what we can do

Factcheck: Is there really a green conspiracy to stop bushfire hazard reduction? (Answer: no)

Explainer: how effective is hazard reduction burning on Australia's fires?

Bushfires: Is Fuel Reduction Burning the Answer?

Explainer: back burning and fuel reduction

Bushfire prevention: burning off doesn’t work

NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment: fire facts

NSW Land Management Code introduced in 2018 allows land owners extensive rights to clear vegetation on their own properties

Worst bushfire conditions ever seen: Unprecedented danger is ‘a firefighter’s nightmare’ from News Ltd (not exactly a biased lefty source), with lots of good info, including quotes from experts that “Fires are burning in places and at intensities never before experienced – rainforests in northern NSW, tropical Queensland, and the formerly wet old-growth forests in Tasmania.”, “These areas have rarely had intense fires because of their moist soils and vegetation, however, the fire situation is consistent with our new world of bushfire threat associated with climate change."

In April 2019, 23 former fire and emergency service chiefs wrote a joint statement warning of the risk of catastrophic bushfire seasons due to climate change, stating "opportunities to carry out hazard reduction burns are decreasing because warmer, drier winters mean prescribed fires can often be too hard to control", and requesting to meet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and for a parliamentary inquiry into these issues (both were denied).

A surprising answer to a hot question: controlled burns often fail to slow a bushfire

'Problematic': Dry forests, hazard burning lag set up busy fire season

Australian bushfire crisis: The pros and cons of hazard reduction burning University of Tasmania fire scientist: "If the weather conditions are catastrophic, [hazard reduction burning] is irrelevant, it has no effect."

The Land - Hazard reduction debate simply frustrating

Town had been backburning before fatal fire "It was a firestorm in the air, raining fire. There was no fuel on the ground, it had already burned"

Why wasn't there more prescribed burning, and would it have helped?

Firies on backburning, from Facebook


Australian Government Productivity Commission Report into natural disaster funding

NSW Liberal MP Andrew Constance says Scott Morrison probably deserved heckling from fire victims on south coast.

The long, hot summer This has been going on for months 

Australia’s Angry Summer: This Is What Climate Change Looks Like

Fire Brigade Shuts Down Rumour That The Greens Are To Blame For Bushfires

And this footage of a firefighter in southern NSW giving Scott Morrison his full and frank opinion:

There has not been 200 arsonists. 24 people have been charged with deliberately lighting fires this fire season (that link direct to the NSW Police site)

This post will be updated as I find more info. 

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