Farmers for Climate Action - Parliament of Australia
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Farmers for Climate Action
Submission to the “Inquiry into the lessons to be learned in relation to
the Australian bushfire season 2019-20”
Addressed to:
Finance and Public Administration References Committee
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
fpa.sen@aph.gov.au
11 February 2021
1
About Farmers for Climate Action
Farmers for Climate Action (FCA) is a movement of more than 5,000 farmers, graziers, and
agricultural industry leaders, focused on advancing climate solutions. Our rapidly growing
network, drawn from diverse agricultural industries and all sides of politics, is united by a
common goal: to ensure that farmers, who are on the frontline of climate change, are part of the
solution. Our work is evidence based and non-partisan, drawing upon the best available science
to inform advocacy in the agricultural sector.
Scope of Submission
Farmers for Climate Action thanks the Committee for the opportunity to make a submission to
‘the inquiry into the lessons to be learned from the Australian bushfire season 2019–20”. We
commend the Committee for the recommendations outlined in the Interim Report and appreciate
the acknowledgement of climate change as a factor in the Interim Report, though encourage the
Committee to push further on the need for strong Federal climate policy.
Our submission relates to the following matters outlined in the Terms of Reference:
(a) advice provided to the Federal Government, prior to the bushfires, about the level of
bushfire risk this fire season, how and why those risks differed from historical norms, and
measures that should be taken to reduce that risk in the future;
(b) the respective roles and responsibilities of different levels of government, and
agencies within government, in relation to bushfire planning, mitigation, response, and
recovery;
(c) the Federal Government’s response to recommendations from previous bushfire
Royal Commissions and inquiries;
(d) the adequacy of the Federal Government’s existing measures and policies to reduce
future bushfire risk, including in relation to assessing, mitigating and adapting to
expected climate change impacts, land use planning and management, hazard
reduction, Indigenous fire practices, support for firefighters and other disaster mitigation
measures;
(e) best practice funding models and policy measures to reduce future bushfire risk, both
within Australia and internationally
2Recommendations at a glance
That the Committee urge the Commonwealth Government to:
1. Accept and enact all of the recommendations from the Royal Commission into
National Natural Disaster Arrangements (RCNNDA)
2. Enhance support state fire services and volunteers in bushfire leadership training
given the increased likelihood and severity of bushfires due to climate change
3. Take immediate steps to reduce Australia’s emissions to 50% below 2005 levels by
2030 and net zero by 2050, acknowledging Australia's particular and rising vulnerability
to bushfires at 1.5–2 ºC+ of global warming
Recommendations in detail
1. Accept and enact all of the recommendations from the Royal Commission into
National Natural Disaster Arrangements (RCNNDA)
On 30 October 2020, the Final Report of the RCNNDA was tabled in Parliament. The
Commission received 1,772 submissions, held 33 days of hearing, and ultimately made 80
recommendations.1 More than 100 days on, the Federal Government has yet to fully endorse
more than half of the recommendations.2
Farmers for Climate Action supporter Jess Campbell, whose beef property at Adelong was burnt
out in the 2019/2020 fires said this week that:
“12 months on and little seems to have changed in relation to the Bushfire Royal Commission.
From where I’m sitting, it appears there’s been no changes in relation to bushfire preparedness
or any improvements in communications within the RFS [Rural Fire Services] and other fire
fighting agencies. Much of the Dunns Rd Fire could have been contained or extinguished with
early aerial support and better communications in relation to inappropriate back burning.”
FCA urges the Committee to ensure that the Federal Government moves to accept and
enact all of the remaining recommendations of the RCNNDA.
1
Australia and Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, Royal Commission into
National Natural Disaster Arrangements Report, 2020.
2
“100 Days Of Smoke and Mirrors Since Bushfire Royal Commission | Media Release,” Climate Council,
accessed February 4, 2021,
https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/100-days-smoke-mirrors-since-bushfire-royal-commission/.
32. Enhance support state fire services and volunteers in bushfire leadership training
given the increased likelihood and severity of bushfires due to climate change
As climate change progresses, bushfires are becoming increasingly difficult to tackle. They
“escape more quickly, burn more intensely, resist control and occur over a greater part of the
year”, as researchers Joe Fontaine and Lewis Walden wrote in the Conversation last week.3
Fire services find themselves under increasing pressure and while the uptake in of the RCNNDA
recommendations will help, those in charge of managing fire fighters on the ground also need
leadership training to help them make the best decisions on the ground in this new and
highly-pressured fire fighting environment.
FCA urges the Committee to recommend the Commonwealth Government enhances its
support for state fire services and volunteers with carefully-tailored bushfire leadership
training, based in the latest best-practice firefighting science.
Case Study: Why leadership training for our firies is essential
I’m a farmer, a Farmers for Climate Action farmer
outreach officer and I first joined the Rural Fire
Services in NSW 40 years’ ago. I’ve seen first hand
how fires have changed over that time, and I’ve linked
it to what the scientists are telling us. Climate change
is making more fires more likely and more severe.
The fires we see now demand a different style of
fighting to what we’ve done in the past. There’s no
room for error. Equally, there’s no room for hesitation.
In 2019/2020 we saw fire brigades held back, in an
abundance of caution, from entering a fire ground,
which led to a major fire getting out of control. We also saw trucks sent into situations that
they should never have entered. We can’t afford to make those kinds of mistakes.
We need the people calling the shots - in the offices but also the commanders on the ground -
to be given the confidence to show leadership on the ground, to know what the right call is
and to make it quickly and efficiently.
- Peter Holding runs a sheep farm at Harden, NSW and is FCA’s farmer outreach officer
3
Joe Fontaine and Lewis Walden, “As Perth’s Suburbs Burn, the Rest of Australia Watches and Learns,”
The Conversation, accessed February 11, 2021,
http://theconversation.com/as-perths-suburbs-burn-the-rest-of-australia-watches-and-learns-154544.
43. Take immediate steps to reduce Australia’s emissions to 50% below 2005 levels by
2030 and net zero by 2050, acknowledging Australia's particular and rising
vulnerability to bushfires at 1.5–2 ºC+ of global warming
FCA commends the Committee for acknowledging the impact of climate change early and
throughout the Interim Report, as well as for noting that emissions reduction is important, but
urges the Committee to expand their recommendations that address climate change to areas
beyond those relating to the insurance industry.4
Rigorous scientific studies demonstrate that, although the causes are complex, climate
change—especially extreme heat—was a significant driver of the 2019–20 megafires.5
Successive governments have largely ignored—in some cases, wilfully—repeated scientific
warnings of rising bushfire risk since at least 2007.6 Indeed, the predictions made more than a
decade ago about the risk of catastrophic fire in 2020 have come to pass.7
Farming and other vulnerable communities must be reassured that the Commonwealth
government is doing all in its power to minimise the danger of climate risks, including bushfire,
becoming unmanageable. Currently Australia's average temperature is rising faster than the
global average.8 According to the most advanced projections, the risk of extreme heat from
2050 onwards is likely to be higher than previously modelled, and that is quite possible Australia
will hit 7 ºC or more by 2100 if emissions continue to rise unabated.9 By letting warming go
unchecked, we are raising the risk not just of bushfire impacts on agriculture, but of compound
disasters (e.g. drought + fire + flood) and their impacts cascading through rural communities
and supply chains10, and of climate impacts compounding other disasters, such as pandemics.11
The Commonwealth must move quickly so that Australia meets its share of the global effort to
reach net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. According to a recent report into Australia’s
4
Australia and Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, Royal Commission into
National Natural Disaster Arrangements Report, 2020, 138–40.
5
van Oldenborgh et al., "Attribution of the Australian bushfire risk to anthropogenic climate change", Nat.
Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2020-69, in review, 2020.
6
Lucas et al. (2007) Bushfire weather in south-east Australia: recent trends and projected climate change
impacts. Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research,
Consultancy Report prepared for The Climate Institute of Australia. (Melbourne).
7
Abram et al. "Connections of climate change and variability to large and extreme forest fires in southeast
Australia", Commun Earth Environ 2, 8 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00065-8
8
CSIRO & BoM, State of the Climate 2020 (Commonwealth of Australia; Canberra, 2021),
www.bom.gov.au/state-of-the-climate/
9
M Grose & J Arblaster, "Just how hot will it get this century? Latest climate models suggest it could be
worse than we thought", The Conversation (18 May, 2020),
https://theconversation.com/just-how-hot-will-it-get-this-century-latest-climate-models-suggest-it-could-be-
worse-than-we-thought-137281
10
Godde et al. "Impacts of climate change on the livestock food supply chain; a review of the evidence",
Global Food Security, 28 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100488.
11
Phillips et al. "Compound climate risks in the COVID-19 pandemic", Nat. Clim. Chang. 10, 586–588
(2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0804-2
5carbon budget we need a 2030 target of 50% below 2005 levels to reach that 2050 goal.12
Australia’s current targets of 26–28% below 2005 levels are manifestly inadequate. If other
countries were to follow Australia's example, the bushfire risk to Australian agriculture,
ecosystems, and settlements would become unmanageable.
FCA urges the Committee to recommend that the Commonwealth Government must
mitigate emissions at home and show real leadership to strengthen the international
effort to avoid global warming beyond 1.5–2 ºC at most.
Case Study: Why we need action
In the dying days of 2019, fire tore
across my property near Adelong,
NSW.
I run a breeding operation of Angus
cross cattle, running about 300 head of
breeding cattle on 1100 acres. In the
space of 24 hours, I lost 95 per cent of
my pasture, fences and water system,
and a small number of cattle.
I was fortunate that my house was
saved, but other farmers will
understand that for me, seeing my
land burn and losing animals to the
flames hurt almost as much as losing
my home. With days that were above
40 degrees both before and after the fire, the land was brittle and exhausted.
After the fire, the land had gone from dust to ash. The 360-degree view revealed a
countryside that was monochromatic - many shades of grey and black. And while for us now
the grass has returned, for many on the Monaro plains the drought is severe as ever.
I am part of the fifth generation to farm this land, and I feel a very real connection to it and a
sense of duty to protect it.
Which is why I cannot ignore the elephant in the room when it comes to the increasingly
frequent droughts and worsening fires that farmers across Eden-Monaro are experiencing -
climate change. We need to increase the conversation and stimulate discussion in order to
extract the best way forward.
The burning of fossil fuels like gas and coal is increasing temperatures across Australia,
making droughts more frequent and fuelling the types of bushfires that devastated entire
communities over the summer.
12
John Hewson et al., “Australia’s Paris Agreement Pathways: Updating the Climate Change Authority’s
2014 Emissions Reduction Targets” (Melbourne: Climate Targets Panel, 2021).
6The government can not ignore the impacts of climate change on our landscape and the need
to address it. The farming bodies are already calling for net zero emissions and taking
responsibility to ensure that our industry is being proactive. The government needs to do the
same in relation to fossil fuel usage.
The summer of 2019-2020 saw a landscape that was dry and shrivelled before the fires, with
a record number of days above 40 degrees and little rain. As farmers who actively manage
our stocking numbers and grazing systems to try and ensure ground cover, to see what was
left be destroyed was heartbreaking.
The sooner the government recognises that this is a national issue and gets proactive, like so
many industries already have, the sooner we can see a turn around. Because 2050, despite
Michael McCormack's and Barnaby Joyce's lack of regard for it, is not creeping up - it is
charging down on us.
Unless the international community moves quickly away from burning fossil fuels for energy
and embraces renewables, life on the land for farmers like me is only going to get harder.
Australia must do its part.
● Jess Campbell is a beef producer from Adelong, NSW, and a Farmers for Climate
Action supporter. An early version of her story appeared in “Eden-Monaro candidates
must commit to action on climate change”,
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6817377/eden-monaro-candidates-must-com
mit-to-action-on-climate-change/
7You can also read
