Unsurprisingly, the interim report into the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements released on August 31 found all levels of government need to better deal with the more frequent and intense natural disasters the country is likely to face.
While it talked about climate change, it did not investigate how cutting greenhouse gas emissions would help reduce future disasters.
The Black Summer fires burned more than 10 million hectares of countryside, claimed 33 lives and destroyed more than 3000 homes. University of Tasmania experts told the commission that 445 people likely died from exposure to smoke pollution.
The commission was with finding ways to improve disaster management in three main areas: how the federal government coordinates with other levels of government; resilience to climate change and mitigating disaster risk; and looking into laws governing the federal government response to national emergencies.
It noted that 鈥渃ascading, concurrent and compounding鈥 disasters, in particular extreme bushfires, are linked to escalating climate change. 鈥淎ustralia鈥檚 weather and climate agencies have told us that changes to the climate are projected to increase the frequency and intensity of natural disasters in Australia. Further warming over the next 20 years appears to be inevitable.
鈥淪ea-levels are projected to continue to rise. Tropical cyclones are projected to decrease in number, but increase in intensity. Floods and bushfires are expected to become more frequent and more intense.
鈥淎dditionally, as the 2019-2020 bushfire season demonstrated, bushfire behaviour has become more extreme and less predictable. Catastrophic fire conditions may become more common, rendering traditional bushfire prediction models and firefighting techniques less effective,鈥 the report stated.
But, as disaster management Robert Glasser pointed out in the September聽2 Conversation, a glaring omission was the commission鈥檚 failure to look into reducing future disasters by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The report said that while the conditions leading up to the 2019-20聽bushfires聽were without precedent, they are no longer unprecedented, and that Australia needs to be prepared for further severe natural disasters.
The commission is recommending that the National Cabinet approach, established to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, could also be used to manage natural disasters.
The commission received 1700 submissions and heard evidence from 290 witnesses.
The interim report contained no specific recommendations: they come with the final report due at the end of October.
However, it did criticise the length of time taken to develop a nationally consistent approach to fire warnings and danger ratings. A national warning system has been in development for six years, something the commission said needed to be 鈥渇inished as a priority鈥.
The report also called for a uniform approach to fire danger ratings, noting that ratings like 鈥渃atastrophic鈥 are different across states and territories.
In June, some 150 experts and聽bushfire聽survivors grouped as Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) hosted a National Bushfire Summit. 聽More than 165 recommendations were included in ELCA鈥檚 Australian聽Bushfire聽and Climate Plan report, published in late July and presented to commission.
One key recommendation was a climate disaster fund to be financed by a fossil fuel levy on the industry.
ELCA cofounder and former Fire and Rescue NSW commissioner Greg Mullins told the ABC, that as climate change was behind last summer鈥檚聽catastrophic聽bushfire season, a levy should be placed on the fossil fuel industry.
鈥淲e had the hottest, driest year ever 鈥 a year that would not have happened without the impact of climate change.鈥 He said the fires were 鈥渂igger, hotter, faster and more destructive [than] what we鈥檝e ever experienced before. The fires were weather driven and the weather was driven by a warming climate,鈥 Mullins said.
He also said the fossil fuel industry can afford to pay 鈥済iven all their tax breaks鈥.
While the royal commission did draw a general link between climate change and worsening bushfire conditions it did not look at their drivers.
As Glasser said, it is disappointing the royal commission has not yet commented on the need to lower greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as possible. To seriously confront future bushfire crises, the commission鈥檚 final report must take up the cause of the escalating fire menace: runaway climate change.