Why Doesn't Our Government Do Anything about Floods and Fires and Drought

[katydidthat]

I don't get it ... we have floods and fires and droughts and we have inquiries about them, but nothing happens.  

Couldn't we move the water around to help with fires and droughts?  Couldn't we store some of the water from rain and flood to assist in droughts and fires?  Couldn't we put systems in place to be prepared for natural catastrophes?  Couldn't we do more to prepare for fires BEFORE they happen?  Couldn't we make dams bigger, or make more dams, or store the water to prevent flooding?  

Why do we just let disasters happen again and again and again?  

[the_bob_delusion]

OK, I've been asking this question every single year. With so little done, it makes me think we're still pretty dumb as a specie. 

[twinkles**stars]

Why can't we protect our houses?.....Because it's no longer up to us. 

I'd just love to get an excavator and get rid of the bushland verging onto our house in every direction, but I'd be fined beyond all imagination just for trying to protect my house and existence.  See how that doesn't work? 

Try to get bushland mitigated...I dares ya....it took me 5 years of bashing my head against a 'Yes Minister' bureaucracy, but when we're declared Catastrophic as a result of the same bushland being so close to our houses...it's a whole different story.   Go figure - mediocrity rules.

But you chose to live there knowing it was bush? But now want it gone?

[the_bob_delusion]

If you look at golf courses, they routinely create more dams and drains to retain the water and use it to water the grass. Why can't we do that on a bigger scale?

As for bush fires, they should cut trees say every 20 kms or something to prevent even greater loss of fauna and animal lives. how hard can that be???

[mainecoon1]

Cue like twinkles I can't understand why you would move close to the bush and then try and get rid of it, if you are so fearful of bush fires maybe you should move

I live close to the bush because I love it I would not even consider chopping one tree down, I am fully insured both house and content if I have the misfortune to be involved in a bush fire so be it as that is nature.  Sometimes to live in a peaceful beautiful place you have to accept that you might not always be safe and to blame the government if there is a bush fire is just dumb

Could other posters also please explain to me where you think the government is going to find the money to fund more dams, pipelines etc, will you be prepared to pay heaps more taxes I doubt it.  There was a big enough whinge when people had to pay the flood leavy for the last Queenslands floods.  

[crystal-gems]

cueperkins wrote:

Why can't we protect our houses?.....Because it's no longer up to us.

I'd just love to get an excavator and get rid of the bushland verging onto our house in every direction, but I'd be fined beyond all imagination just for trying to protect my house and existence.  See how that doesn't work?

Why don't you go all the way and concrete the whole area?

Or better still, move into the CBD.  That will solve your problem.

[darksideofthemoon]

I don't get it ... we have floods and fires and droughts and we have inquiries about them, but nothing happens.  

Couldn't we move the water around to help with fires and droughts?  Couldn't we store some of the water from rain and flood to assist in droughts and fires?  Couldn't we put systems in place to be prepared for natural catastrophes?  Couldn't we do more to prepare for fires BEFORE they happen?  Couldn't we make dams bigger, or make more dams, or store the water to prevent flooding?  

Why do we just let disasters happen again and again and again?  

Katy, I don't think you have any real comprehension of just how huge Australia is and how vast an area is affected at present by fires and floods.

Yes backburning can be done in areas that are populated and that does help, except it doesn't happen very often.

Trying to store flood waters for fires would be great, but where would you store such vast quantities of water and in what area would you put this storage?

Think of the millions upon millions of $$$ of tax payers money it would take.

Huge dams to catch the water, yes, but where?  Pipe lines to bushfire prone areas.. which ones?

It's a great idea and I have tried to figure it out too, but it's just not viable 😞 

[cueperkins]

Hi Mainecoon....perhaps you don't understand  because, like twinkles, you're assuming that I moved to the bush, not that the bush grew up around our village in the decades since, due to a complete lack of mitigation.

The fuel laden land surrounding us is all PRIVATELY owned, and when I first came to live here it was kept cleared to protect the village and the Nat Park above us.  They simply burned it back = too easy.

Are our 'historical' expectations that it be kept cleared as it always was in the past, now OTT?  .....or did the powers that be get complacent and decide for us that it was no longer a risk? 

You see, the issue is that if a fire gets out of control here, the much larger Nat Park will be wiped out  Controlled burns are always better than inevitable wildfires in the absence of mitigation.

No offense meant Mainecoon, but our Aussie Flora knows better than us.....many species need smoke, heat, fire to germinate.   They get that in controlled burns... When it's a wildfire, they're literally wiped out.  Balance is a word.

[izabsmiling]

http://news.domain.com.au/domain/green/home-bush-clearing-laws-changed-20111117-1nl7g.html

Home bush clearing laws changed

Clay Lucus

Date November 18, 2011

HOMEOWNERS in Victoria's most bushfire-prone areas will from today be able to clear all vegetation except trees up to 50 metres from their house without a permit, under laws brought in by Planning Minister Matthew Guy.

Before now, householders had been able to clear shrubs and vegetation within 30 metres of their house.

Under the new ''10/50'' rule, to be passed in state parliament today, they can legally clear any tree or bush within 10 metres of their home, and bushes or native vegetation within 50 metres.

Mr Guy also said new homes would be better fire-proofed as a result of the new laws that give councils far stronger controls to reject houses and other proposals they believe will not meet stringent requirements.

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''The new planning provisions give priority to the protection of human life,'' Mr Guy said.

The opposition said the changes, to clearing in particular, were months later than expected, and had put people living in areas of high bushfire risk in greater danger.

The Greens said the new laws could result in overly aggressive clearing, and could lead to some residents clearing with false motives.

The new rules, the government's response to the 2009 Victoria Bushfires Royal Commission, will result in every planning scheme in the state being changed to better consider the possibility of bushfires when a new house is being built.

Housing groups last night voiced concerns that the new laws rated too much of Victoria as high risk, and would bump up building costs.

Housing Industry Association spokeswoman Kristin Brookfield said ''arbitrary assessment'' of bushfire risks would increase costs for roofing, guttering, and seals around doors and windows.

Mr Guy also announced a time extension on planning permit exemptions for people living in temporary housing in bushfire-affected communities. Extended until early 2013, they would give time to resolve long-term building plans, he said.

■Travellers in country Victoria are among those most vulnerable to the growing threat of grass fires this summer.

Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said a warm August followed by heavy rain had created the right conditions for grass growth and fires.

''People get caught in the open or out on roads in grass fires,'' he said.

Grass fires are thought to pose the greatest risk in central and north-western Victoria. They can travel up to three times faster than a forest fire.

The Country Fire Authority says that complacency over bushfires has become worrying.

With BENJAMIN PREISS

They have done quite a bit of back burning in my area.....that doesn't please everyone however.

[izabsmiling]

the Council also does property checks to identify properties which need clearing .

[cueperkins]

Yeah I know Iza, but our issue is a bit like 'pass the parcel' of liability, (though our Council would love that same land mitigated)  It's in the 'too hard basket'.   Ironically, nobody is denying the risk, it's just being ignored...lol

Problem is, while our State Govt has been busy stripping budgets left right & centre to front line services, Nobody has enough of a budget to do anything and everyone thinks it's the others job to do something...so inevitably, nobody does nothin !!!  lol   Working together doesn't seem to dawn on any of 'em...lol 

That's Bureaucracy for ya....= a snake biting it's own tale. 

Maybe we should consider the waste of public money on BS we don't need vs the infrastructure maintenance we do need.   When are Govts accountable for their waste?  We never see a report card do we?