There are various different kinds of negligence and failure for which Australia’s political leaders should be held accountable in relation to the #bushfirecrisis. Here’s a thread.
#AustraliaFires #AustraliaBurns
#AustraliaFires #AustraliaBurns
1. Despite at least 18 warnings since 2013 (and plenty before that) linking rising emissions to catastrophic fire risks, no serious action has been taken to reduce Australia’s emissions. We are literally the worst on climate policy: google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theg…
2. Specific expert warnings about the fire risks for the 2019-2020 summer and recommendations for better preparations were all ignored, as were requests for further meetings by experts: google.com.au/amp/amp.abc.ne…
... And as @MikeySlezak pointed out, not only did the politicians both choose to ignore and deliberately avoid receiving warnings, they put a stop to the complex disaster scenario planning that was being undertaken by diligent public servants:
3. Not only has Australia been hopeless in reducing domestic emissions-we’ve been an obstructive and destructive force, thwarting progress in global emissions reduction negotiations. This conduct has continued even as Australia has burned: google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theg…
4. Australia has also done nothing to reduce exported emissions - indeed is trying to aggressively expand coal, oil and gas exports. We are the largest coal exporter and third largest exporter of all fossil fuels: google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theg…
... And Australia continues to provide billions of dollars in subsidies to coal, oil and gas, literally paying the polluters to make things worse: reneweconomy.com.au/global-fossil-…
5. In addition to pursuing policies consistent with generating catastrophic fire conditions, there has also been active political repression of those trying to sound the alarm. A UN human rights rapporteur said he was “astonished” at what was going on: ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/…
6. When the #bushfirecrisis started the national political response was slow and inadequate to the scale of the emergency. The PM’s holiday may have contributed, but structural causes are more significant. Wilful blindness to climate risk has been BAU: theguardian.com/australia-news…
7. This is only a smattering of the evidence of course, but overall, the record is clear that @ScottMorrisonMP and his predecessors have taken a political, policy and economic course that is both consistent with and generative of the unmitigated catastrophe that is now occurring.
Finally, based on what we currently know, there is no reason to be confident that our political leaders are now seriously scenario planning for the future, so that as a nation we are striving for the best but not caught unready for the worst. #ClimateEmergency
