Living With the Bush

SO MUCH talk. So little done. So few days to the next fire season and the only substantial measure in place from the Government has been the ''10/30'' land-clearing provisions overriding conservation zones, overlays and heritage controls across my municipality and 10 others in outer-urban ''green wedges''.

ON ASH Wednesday, I tried to evacuate with my three toddlers. This was a mistake. We became trapped and sat out the conflagration in a park in Upper Beaconsfield. It felt like a war zone. In the meantime, my husband and a neighbour fought for their lives in a foot of water in Cardinia Creek. They were lucky to survive. Nevertheless, we have since planted 50,000 trees.

 Vegetation: the new battleground

A RECENT study by the Australian Institute of Criminology estimated about half of Australia's bushfires were lit deliberately. Few arsonists are caught or convicted. This activity is likely to increase on days of code-red fire risk. Arsonists have received little attention following February's terrible fires. It is imperative that this criminal activity be addressed, perhaps by adopting measures similar to South Australia's Operation Nomad, in which police visit suspected and convicted arsonists on days of high fire danger and use automated number plate recognition to alert them when suspects drive in fire danger zones. This would be resource-intensive, but surely a fraction of the cost and logistical effort required to combat fires and their dreadful aftermath.

Dick Davies, president, Warrandyte Community Association 

IN LESS than a week, contractors will start tree and vegetation removal at many schools, including Don Valley Primary School, simply because these schools were designed to protect students and staff if bushfire threatens.
 

These trees are the only source of shade at our school. Statistics will show that our children are at a far greater risk of contracting skin cancer than they are of dying as a result of bushfire. As the Department of Education intends to close schools on days of extreme fire risk anyway, the likelihood of the buildings being occupied is remote. We had two days when this occurred last season - but 159 days when the Sun Smart policy required the wearing of sun protection.

TALKBACK radio should not be the only place informing government policy - why not use the far more considered outcomes of the royal commission? What will become of all the roadside plantings, wildlife corridors and shelter-belts that Landcare groups have worked hard to create? Many of these plantings were taxpayer-subsidised. What about threatened or endangered flora - how will residents know what they are chopping down?