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Australia fires live: South Australia, NSW and Victoria brace for return of bushfire danger – latest updates Australia fires live: South Australia, NSW and Victoria brace for return of bushfire danger – latest updates
(31 minutes later)
Temperatures and winds set to rise as weather conditions worsen, bringing severe bushfire risk. Follow the latest news and live updatesTemperatures and winds set to rise as weather conditions worsen, bringing severe bushfire risk. Follow the latest news and live updates
The Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says the state of disaster declaration will remain in place for at least another 48 hours, after receiving a briefing on the weather conditions for the next two days. For those still wondering what a state of disaster means - it basically gives authorities more compulsion powers.
The Australia Institute has done some polling on what sort of response people want in terms of the climate change If they tell you to go, you have to go.
- Two in three Australians (66%) agree that Australia is facing a climate change emergency and should take emergency action. Only one in four Australians (23%) disagree. From VicEmergency
- Two in three Australians (63%) agree that governments should mobilise all of society to tackle climate change, like they did during the World Wars. The declaration is made where the Premier agrees there is an emergency that constitutes, or is likely to constitute, a significant and widespread danger to life or property.
- A majority of Coalition (56%), Labor (74%) and Greens voters (80%) agree that governments should mobilise all of society to tackle climate change. This declaration gives the Victorian Government the powers and resources it needs to keep Victorians safe. It is the first time such powers have been used since they were included in the Emergency Management Act 1986 following the 2009 Victorian Bushfires.
(And here was the method, for those wondering) The declaration applies to the local government areas of East Gippsland Shire, Mansfield Shire, Wellington Shire, Wangaratta Rural Shire, Towong Shire, Alpine Shire, and Mount Buller, Mount Hotham, Falls Creek and Mount Stirling Alpine Resorts.
“The Australia Institute conducted a national survey of 1,424people between 1 and 15November 2019, online through Dynata with nationally representative samples by gender, age, state and territory, and household income. The margin of error (95% confidence level) for the national results is 2.6%. Results are shown only for larger states.” A State of Disaster:
The road to Corryong has been reopened - but only for residents. And it could close at anytime. may be declared to exist in the whole, or parts, of Victoria
exists immediately upon the making of the declaration and remains in force for one month (unless another declaration is made)
can be revoked or varied by the Premier at any time.
People in these areas must follow advice from emergency services. Do not travel to these areas and if you are in any of these areas, leave now if it is safe to do so. The community should monitor advice and warnings at emergency.vic.gov.au (External link)
Daniel Andrews says he has not taken the decision to extend the state of disaster, easily - but he believes it is necessary to save lives.
Andrew Crisp says authorities are still conducting assessments of homes lost in East Gippsland.
So far, they have made it to 2,800 property assessments. 244 homes “have been impacted in one way or another”. All up, Crisp says 400 “structures” have been hit – that includes sheds and things like that. But there are still areas they haven’t been able to get into because of the smoke and fire risk.
The Victorian authorities are really stressing the “leave now” message.
Andrew Crisp:
Fifteen million dollars has been donated to the Victorian bushfire appeal so far, Daniel Andrews says.
He says every dollar in the state’s appeal will go to families who have been impacted by the fires.
Victorian emergency services minister Lisa Neville says fire strike teams are being moved into place, given the predicted conditions for tomorrow:
The Victorian emergency commissioner, Andrew Crisp, says there are 23 ongoing fires in the state’s north-east region at the moment.
It had been 12. They are not new fires, but they have split the fires up (in terms of names) to make it easier for people in the impacted communities to understand which are close to them.
Of those 23 fires, 13 have watch and act alerts.
More than 1.2m hectares has been burned since 21 November.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, says the state of disaster declaration will remain in place for at least another 48 hours, after receiving a briefing on the weather conditions for the next two days.
The Australia Institute has done some polling on what sort of response people want in terms of the climate emergency.
– Two in three Australians (66%) agree that Australia is facing a climate change emergency and should take emergency action. Only one in four Australians (23%) disagree.
– Two in three Australians (63%) agree that governments should mobilise all of society to tackle climate change, like they did during the world wars.
– A majority of Coalition (56%), Labor (74%) and Greens voters (80%) agree that governments should mobilise all of society to tackle climate change.
And here was the method, for those wondering:
“The Australia Institute conducted a national survey of 1,424 people between 1 and 15 November 2019, online through Dynata with nationally representative samples by gender, age, state and territory, and household income. The margin of error (95% confidence level) for the national results is 2.6%. Results are shown only for larger states.”
The road to Corryong has been reopened – but only for residents. And it could close at anytime.
From VicEmergency:From VicEmergency:
Canberra is still suffering from hazardous air quality (it is not so bad now, but last night, the smoke came rolling through again) Canberra is still suffering from hazardous air quality (it is not so bad now but last night the smoke came rolling through again).
The ACT health minister has put out this update:The ACT health minister has put out this update:
You’ll find that website, hereYou’ll find that website, here
AAP has an update on the Kangaroo Island fire, which has seen authorities preemptively evacuate Vivonne Bay:
We have had a few questions about the Volunteers Fire Fighters Association in recent days, so Chris Knaus has taken a look.
This is what he has found:
A small volunteer firefighting association that disputes the link between climate change and the current bushfires has close ties to the New South Wales Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party and diverted thousands of dollars from its meagre finances to bankroll a bid by its president to run as an SFF candidate in the NSW election.
The Volunteer Fire Fighters Association has been quoted extensively in the media during the bushfire crisis, particularly on Sky News and in the Australian, downplaying the links to climate change, attacking the group of ex-fire and emergency chiefs who have called for climate action, and placing blame for the fires chiefly on a lack of hazard reduction burning and poor land management.
The VFFA, which splintered from NSW’s main volunteer firefighting representative body in 2004, has repeatedly refused to say how many members it has, and recently drew the ire of the RFS commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, who called it a “highly politically-charged” group with unclear motivations that had failed to reveal “who they claim to represent, how many they represent, and how they operate”.
The Guardian can now reveal the group’s close links to the SFF party, whose leader Robert Borsak frequently disputes that humans are causing climate change and similarly blames the fires on a lack of hazard reduction burning.
Zali Steggall is pushing for a climate change act - and she is targeting ‘modern Liberals’ to cross the floor to make it a reality.
From Sarah Martin:
The independent MP Zali Steggall is calling on self-styled “modern Liberals” to support legislation to establish a new climate change framework, warning them to ignore the views of their constituents “at their peril”.
Steggall, who toppled Tony Abbott in the Sydney seat of Warringah at the May 2019 election, largely on a platform of climate change action, is finalising draft legislation for a “national climate change framework” that sets out a roadmap for Australia to transition to a decarbonised economy.
The legislation is modelled on the UK’s Climate Change Act, passed in 2008, and mirrors framework laws in place in New Zealand and Ireland. Germany and Fiji are considering similar draft legislation.
Adam Morton has had a look at Australia’s 2019 temperatures. It is not good news.
Firefighting efforts have received an extra $166m since the fire season began.
Gladys Berejiklian:
Gladys Berejiklian says the government is committing $1bn to rebuilding after the fires, which frees up the money the federal government is providing from its $2bn recovery fund to go in direct payments to those who have been impacted.
Scott Morrison is in Canberra today as cabinet’s national security committee meets to discuss Iran and Iraq.
The Labor shadow cabinet will be meeting in Adelaide.
This short clip from Scott Morrison’s trip to Kangaroo Island yesterday is doing the rounds on social media.
To be fair, he had just been informed about the Iraq situation while in the air.
Dick Lang and his son Dr Clayton Lang were found in their car on the Playford Highway at Gosse on Saturday, after trying to escape what was described as a “virtually unstoppable” fire, devastating the Kangaroo Island community.
Good morning.
We start the day with residents in Victoria’s firezone being told to leave now, as temperatures begin their climb back to dangerous levels.
An emergency warning was issued on Thursday morning for Bobinawarrah, Carboor, Kneebones Gap, Whorouly, Whorouly East and Whorouly South. Heavy ember attacks are being reported.
We haven’t had an emergency level warning since earlier this week.
Tomorrow is still the next really worrying day, with authorities warning all week that Friday’s conditions were going to be dangerous, with high temperatures and unpredictable winds.
In South Australia, Vivonne Bay in Kangaroo Island is being evacuated.
The weather bureau has officially reported last year was Australia’s hottest on record, with temperatures 1.5 degrees above average.
The NSW RFS has also released an update
We’ll bring you the day’s events, as they happen.