As COVID-19 has disrupted our everyday lives, last summer’s fires have all but escaped our immediate consciousness. Along with the clearing of the smoke, the fact that just last summer (November 2019 – February 2020) large parts of Australia were under duress from fires has gradually lifted from our minds. The bushfires largely disappeared from the political and news agendas as a result of tackling the current health crisis. From being everywhere on national (and international) news, it became rare to see the bushfires mentioned. The fires were the perfect, terrible example of what a world changed by human impact on the climate looks like. Therefore, the fact that the fires so quickly became overshadowed by the virus was a loss for everyone seeking government action to reduce further impact on the climate. Although we can speculate whether the long-term effects of COVID-19 will be better or worse for the environment, for environmental activism fuelled by the fires, the timing was tragic.  

The immediate and undeniable threat of hot, scorching fires make them the perfect symbol of climate change. Similar to COVID-19, fires have clearly conceivable consequences if no actions are taken. Bushfires are immediate, terrifying and pose direct threats to humans, wildlife and properties. Therefore, bushfires require government action, both during fire events such as by fighting the fires and coordinating evacuation but also through the repeated inquiries that tend to follow serious fire event. These inquiries are often aimed at improving preparedness and responses to bushfires, such as the 2009 Royal Commission into the Black Saturday fires. Climate change on the other hand, is the opposite. We are now experiencing the effects of large amounts of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide being released into the Earth’s atmosphere over the last two centuries. Although the consequences of global warming are delayed, the effects of the changing climate are increasingly experienced around the world. Examples of the effects are rising sea levels, more hot days, extreme weather events as well as acidifying and warming oceans (See WWF for more details on the effects of global warming in Australia). As the summers are becoming warmer and dryer, fire regimes are changing, fire seasons are becoming longer and extreme fire events more frequent.

Although the last couple of months have made the fires fade from the public consciousness, the last two weeks saw the start of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements (Block one of hearings were carried out between the 25th of May and the 4th of June), into last summer’s fires. This has served to put bushfires back on the agenda. Royal Commissions are ad-hoc official public inquiries into a particular issue. However, their efficiency has been questioned. Many of the recommendations that stem from these inquiries are slow to be taken up or are never implemented at all. Moreover, the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission in 2009 cost a minimum of A$40 million over a period of 18 months. Naturally, this money could have been spent differently to manage fires and prevent harm.

So, the question to be asked is: is there any value to this inquiry? TheRoyal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, although potentially toothless, has put bushfires back on the agenda. However, will this inquiry contribute with anything new and valuable? A report by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC in 2017 into 51 major bushfire inquires between 1939 and 2013 in Australia found that several themes tend to reoccur. The 1728 recommendations of these inquiries were grouped into six categories: shared responsibility, preparedness, response, recovery, fire agency organisation, and, research and technology. However, climate change was not one of these.

On the contrary, the terms of reference of the current public inquiry acknowledge the role of the changing global climate and what this means for Australia’s capacity to prevent and response to bushfires. The first days of the inquiry’s public hearings have also centred around the effects the changing climate is having on the frequency and severity of bushfires. Among others, Karl Braganza, the head of climate monitoring at the Bureau of Meteorology, described how increasing temperatures, especially more frequent heatwaves and decreased rainfall is contributing to the fire conditions witnessed last summer. It was also made clear that severe fire seasons, similar to last summer’s, will be repeated in the decades to come.

The Royal Commission’s emphasis on climate change is a step in the right direction and hopefully these tendencies will be palpable in the Commission’s recommendations and beyond. Given that the Australian government largely has denied the impacts of climate change and even more so avoided taking action against it, I hope the Royal Commission can contribute to a formal acknowledgement of climate change, the effects of which are discernible in the occurrence of longer fire seasons and more extreme fire events. In addition, with the initiation of the inquiry, bushfires are back on the agenda and this is a tendency that environmental activists, academics and practitioners can and should take advantage of to further our cause.