Imagine if that meeting had gone ahead and the fire chiefs’ recommendations for money to lease large firefighting aircraft had been granted; if a stocktake of firefighting needs had been undertaken and the funds provided to provide the necessary equipment well ahead of the fire season; if a nationwide effort to audit vulnerable townships and regions, resource and help people prepare them better to face bushfires had been conducted; if communities had been encouraged to develop their support responses earlier; if more redundancy was built in to the telephone and internet networks.
📑 Don’t dismiss our anger in Cobargo Scott Morrison, we are the ones living through a crisis
The people who stood up to the prime minister in our community are saying what a lot of us are feeling
Zena Armstrong, a Cobago local, pushes back on the response that Morrison’s treatment in the town was merely a reflection of people still feeling raw. Although there is nothing stopping the fires from being lit, the government could have done a lot more to mitigate the destruction.