Clearly the psychology of blame is operative here. Much of the attack is an expression of the usual need to find scapegoats and deal with a sense of loss. In the Black Friday fires of 1939 the Forestry Commission and the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works were accused of not being proactive in clearing forest litter and scrub. Nowadays 'extreme Greens' or 'city-based academics' of some sort are more likely to be blamed.
After the most extensive and long-lasting series of fires in the European history of Australia in 2002–2003, there were many attacks on those considered responsible for not carrying out preventative or hazard reduction burning. This became a touchstone that focused a range of other issues simmering away in rural communities.
How governments respond to this is important. In 2003 the governments of Victoria and the ACT initially offered help, but once their bureaucrats got hold of the process people had to go through complex procedures in order to get minimal assistance. The governments failed to deal with the emotional response of people who had lost everything.
In New South Wales the then Premier, Bob Carr, an old hand with a lot of experience, took a different approach. Aid was promised and delivered without a great deal of red tape; Carr made sure the Premier's Department dealt with everything. This prevented anal-retentive public servants from erecting an obstacle course for victims. I know, because I received some aid from NSW after a bush block and old house I owned were reduced to rubble.
Carr also funded a project that allowed people to tell stories of their experiences of the fires. This acknowledged publicly that people had been through terrible times. The project was launched at a social meeting at the National Parks headquarters in Jindabyne. It brought together locals and National Parks staff, who are often in conflict over land management policies. This built relationships rather than dividing people.
A House of Representatives Select Committee, chaired by the then federal member for Eden-Monaro, Garry Nairn, is a good example of what not to do. It was set up, in the words of the minority Labor report:
'... in a highly charged political atmosphere ... where the media is seeking the sensational story, the community is demanding answers and the politicians are seeking to apportion blame. These are hardly conducive circumstances for the rational evaluation of evidence, the setting aside of long-held prejudices and the development of practical recommendations.' |QUOTE|
In retrospect, the Nairn Committee reinforced the blame game and, in the words of one submission, pitted 'environmentalists and academics, supported by inner-city residents not threatened by bushfires [who] advocate a hands-off approach to land-management, where 'natural' events like bushfires are allowed to run free', against 'rural people, fire fighters, foresters and land managers who are responsible for values threatened by bushfires'.
The latter want 'an interventionist approach, where steps are taken to minimise risks before fires start'; that is, to carry out preventative burning.
It is clear that the same kind of debate is already beginning after last Saturday's horrendous fires. An article in The Australian on Wednesday (pictured) pitted 'one of Australia's leading bushfire experts', Ron Incoll, and David Packham of Monash University, against Nillumbik Shire Council in which 'green groups' are seemingly influential.
I am not in a position to make any comment on this specific issue. But it is unfortunate that the bushfires are not yet out, but the blame game has already begun.
In fact, this debate has already become irrelevant. On Saturday we entered a new category of bushfire, the type that results from global warming. From all that I can see Saturday's wild fire had a velocity and intensity that far surpasses both Black Friday and Ash Wednesday. We are in a new era of fire and we are going to have to take a long, hard, rational and ecologically sensitive look at what has happened.
The proposed Royal Commission is a good way of doing this, especially if it is chaired by a person with the talents and objectivity of Leonard Stretton who ran the1939 post-Black Friday Royal Commission. Rather than scoring points and blaming people, we need to pull back and look at what has happened, putting - as Premier Brumby has said - everything on the table.
And that includes global warming.
Paul Collins is a former head of religious broadcasting at ABC Radio.
On the Web: http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=11721