bushfire business and politics

this am I was watching the ABC local news half hour and they were discussing the current progress (or lack thereof) of the bushfire debate - we seem to have finally left behind the " stay or go" debate and now its all about getting refuges off the ground - but of course "public liability " seems to be the main concern -as ever - ignoring the urgent and serious nature of saving human life in circs of extreme danger - and worrying about insurance and liability instead!

To me this is the wrong focus altogether - firstly are families fleeing from the imminent threat of wildfire really going to be thinking about their rights to sue? Why can't the issues of safety and well-organised evacuations be thoroughly researched rather than this ridiculous opt out attitude by govt depts that are simply negligent!

if insurance is a problem why not have a legal waiver of rights set up for these emergency situations?

People like to live in the bush -they are well aware of the risks they take - but the negligence of govt depts in not setting up proper and safe policies for well known emergencies are misleading and dangerous!

rather than wasting public taxes on destructive and polluting "fuel reduction" burns all through the beautiful pristine native bushland and forests -why don't they spend these funds on building proper infrastructure of early warning systems and appropriate evacuation strategies and safe shelters?

I have personal experience of living in 2 bushfire zones and being evacuated throughout my life as well as being burnt out on Ash Wed in the Otways where we actually were on the day.

On that day anyone who stayed to defend their property in our area tragically perished and my family fled for or lives with 2 elderly citizens and a new baby - my son of 10 weeks!

This was on a day of intolerable heat and high winds in an arid beach area most unlikely to be burnt out. After the fire there were only 2 surviving holiday homes (by some miracle) and the whole area resembled a moonscape.

This event is so deeply etched in our collective community memory that locals still talk about it today nearly 30 years later!

Subsequent brushes with property loss and near escapes have all been caused by the DSE instigated "controlled burns " that inevitably get out of control -somehow, never explained - and leave the locals shaking their heads and muttering.

One in our area caused considerable loss of property ironically to those who had requested the burn being most anxious about the bushfire threat! and more recently the Alcoa power plant at Anglesea became a bit of a close shave! I quake to think of the huge cost of these misplaced manoevres which seem to happen far to frequently!

The once picturesque and lovely entrance to Anglesea township is currently a focus of this policy and a blackened wasteland now confronts residents aswell as the many tourists and overseas vissitors who flock to this area as the summer season gets underway.

I worry about the lack of proper provision for these people -locals and visitors alike and I do not believe the current policy of burning the bush along the roadside and in large tracts inland would make any difference if there was to be a really critical fire event such as Ash Wednesday - Feb 13th 1983!

I also feel angry and upset at the sight of the devastation to our beautiful landscape, I worry about the destruction of native animals and their habitat and as well the risk to health of local residents (such as myself) who suffer from asthma and lung problems on burn off days for whom no appropriate warnings or refuges from the serious smoke is provided.

In fact I am disgusted with the lack of real action in this area making a mockery of the dedicated tireless work of our brave fire-fighters - ignoring the lessons that should have been learned from "Black Saturday" and acted upon as a matter of extreme urgency!

The real tragedy here is that these deaths were in fact preventable and that with appropriate strong leadership and policies to assign resources to address the real problems there should never be another life lost in a bush-fire situation.

I do not think the current policies are focused on the real issues here nor does the "bandaid approach" of so called fuel reduction burns provide any real protection in a serious fire event - but is just about keeping up appearances and being seen to be doing something.

I am also strongly opposed to the approach of spreading fear every Summer season so that families can no longer enjoy a peaceful summer break without the worry of a possible bush-fire!

Serious fire events happen very rarely and are indeed unpredictable in the general sense - the threat last Summer never eventuated and many people are forced to have this permanent fear and worry in their lives simply because the Authorities are not taking responsibility of addressing the problem proactively rather than playing politics!

I have been told that early warning systems and predictive models are indeed well-developed and readily available. Why are these not being developed as a matter of urgency and installed in those areas known to be at risk?

People will always choose to inhabit and visit our beautiful bush areas and with the proper controls and systems in place this should not mean that they need to live in fear of fire or at risk of their lives!

So let's quit all the bullshit and playing politics and get some proper action happening now!

Education Reform: An Urgent Priority

From a background in Education and Psychology and having taught in 3 Asian countries as well as seen my own 2 children through their education in this country, I have major concerns about the lack of progress in this area in the past 20 to 30 years.
Education, particularly in the sciences and arts, has not been afforded the priority of funding and policy that a modern nation hoping to attain a place on the world stage as well as play a major role in the world of the future needs to provide.
Our governments have been backward looking and complaints about the' brain drain' have failed to address the reasons behind this.
As a so-called Baby Boomer I was educated in the last golden age of publicly- funded education in this country. I was fortunate to graduate from a fully funded place with no debt, delayed or otherwise, hanging over me: there is no such security for the young people of today and many are choosing not to proceed to tertiary studies. Those who do press on struggle w all kinds of costs and debts as well as the tertiary loan system which sees them graduating w huge debts to repay.
There seems to be a severe shortage of places in fields such as education and medicine and many bright young people are turned away from these fields not only because of the costs involved but in view of the sorry situation that even when graduated after many long years of costly study the salaries have not kept abreast of salaries in other areas such as private enterprise engineering, commerce, law or finance and it just does not seem worth it!
The system that dictates a young school leaver is not considered independent of his family for the purposes of being eligible for a study allowance, until they have earnt a large sum( thus necessitating deferrment of places for 1 to 2 years in order to be eligible) is totally unfair as well as counter productive: if we are serious about educating the next generation then every possible support and inducement to stay in study should be offered - not the reverse!!Many of these young people are from rural families and it is just too difficult to struggle on trying to support themselves away from home while they earn the amount required to be eligible for the allowance! It must also be defeating to be forced to defer a place you have worked so hard at school to achieve if you do not want to! Once gained the allowance scarcely covers books and extras and is nowhere near enough to provide for rent and costs of living away from home anyway!
There needs to be much more encouragement to young school-leavers into tertiary education generally, and into education and health in particular. Students from rural backgrounds need to be specially supported and systems of scholarships, bursaries and studentships should be considered. Tertiary places in these areas need to be significantly increased as well as the salaries and status of Teachers especially.
Many young graduates would consider education as a career if it were properly funded and supported as it was in my era. When I was a young graduate with a basic degree and a Dip. Ed. I was paid $30 per hour for tertiary tutoring - my rent was $20 per week and my brand new Subaru cost the princely sum of $4,500!! Now these items are 10x the cost of those days but are teachers being paid $300 per hour?
My 25 year old son - an honours graduate in Zoology - is paid $20 per hour to conduct educational sessions for school groups on camp, where he has a huge amount of responsibility and various certificates required to be eligible( which he paid for himself) These groups range from primary classes through all levels of secondary to university students on field trips and teach a combination of physical skills with an appreciation of the environment and the principles of ecology and conservation. A most important contribution in view of the environmental and climate change crises that will be facing future generations on this planet!
Unless we address these inequities in opportunities and career paths open to young people I can only see the education crisis becoming deeper and more difficult to counter in future generations.
It is not a matter of a national curriculum or increased testing across the nation or more and more bodies of enquiry - it is simply a matter of increased support and funding for education at all levels! Increased places for teacher training, better salaries to attract top professionals back to tertiary teaching, and much better support and professional development for teachers in schools both primary and secondary ; smaller class sizes and appropriate infastructure to curb the unnecessary paper work that teachers should not need to be engaged with; and an appropriate sense of status and career excellence in the whole field of Education brought about by salary parity with other professions!
In order for our Universities to take their place in the modern world of today these issues need to be adressed urgently or Australia will fall so far behind the rest of the developed world that we will no longer be able to hold our place as a developed country. This I believe is a most serious crisis in our domestic policy and deserves the urgent attention of those in power to make policy. It is far reaching into the future of our nation and will affect every aspect of our economy - without properly educated future generations there will be no prosperity and and the profound wealth of talent and intelligence we take for granted in this country will subside into mediocrity.