Living With the Bush

IN ITS interim report, the Bushfires Royal Commission called for a revised interpretation of Victoria's ''prepare, leave early or stay and defend'' policy. In future, the commission urged, the priority should always be saving human life, and in consequence it must be understood that the safest course of action when threatened by bushfire is always to leave early.

The reason the commission made this recommendation is simple: when there are blazes with the intensity of the fires that killed 173 people on Black Saturday, February 7, many properties will not be defensible. Firebreaks are of no avail if the winds fanning the flames and depositing burning embers are strong enough.

Eleri Harris writes: Greg Sheridan’s piece in the most recent Weekend Australian “A load of old crystal balls” exemplifies how problematic the unquestioning rehashing of items in the news cycle can be.

In the emotionally charged days following the recent bush fires in Victoria, the media ran many stories blaming council native vegetation clearance regulations on the severity of the fires. A story that gained prominence in the media was the Liam Sheahan case.

Several newspapers on Friday 22 May reported Dr. Kevin Tolhurst’s testimony to the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.

Two such reports, in the Australian and the Herald Sun, report Dr. Tolhurst’s testimony in a way which suggest that fuel loadings were a principal, if not the principal, factor in the intensity of the Black Saturday fires.