Coronavirus is just a dress rehearsal for what is likely coming next

Just as the bushfire crisis was a flaw-exposing dress rehearsal that helped Australia deal with the COVID-19 crisis, the COVID-19 crisis should itself be a dress rehearsal for possibly worse things to come. And the most recent report of the Commission for the Human Future suggests that we would do well to prepare for them.

Dr John Hewson heads the Commission for the Human Future.

Indeed, the report suggests we need more than the traditional Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to illustrate the threats, which can be summarised as follows:

• Decline of natural resources, especially water
  
• Collapse of ecosystems and mass extinctions
  
• Population growth and demand beyond the Earth's carrying capacity
  
• Global warming, sea-level rise and changes in the climate
  
• Pollution of all life by chemicals
  
• Famine
  
• Nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction
  
• Pandemics of new and untreatable disease
  
• Powerful, uncontrolled new technologies
  
• National and global failure to understand and act on these risks. 

The report says that, until COVID-19 shook humanity and government, optimism abounded for several decades whereas people calling for fairness, equity or warning of limits to growth and risks were ignored or suppressed. The commission is an Australian organisation, headed by former Opposition leader John Hewson.

Read the story from The Canberra Times by Crispin Hull - “Coronavirus is just a dress rehearsal for what is likely coming next.”

Bushfires leave 470 plants and 200 animals in dire straits – government analysis

More than 400 plants and nearly 200 invertebrates need urgent attention after the bushfire crisis, new analysis for the federal environment department has found.

The most severely affected species lost at least 30% of their habitat to the fires.

Freshwater mussels, shrimps, burrowing crayfish, land snails, spiders, millipedes, bees, dragonflies and butterflies were among the invertebrates whose ranges have been severely affected by the unprecedented fires through spring and summer.

The most severely affected species have had at least 30% of their range burned, and in some cases the figure was much higher.

Publication of the list of 471 plants and 191 invertebrates comes as business groups and governments emphasise the need to reduce bureaucracy around environmental assessments as part of the economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

Australia’s national environment laws – the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act – are being independently reviewed but the environment minister, Sussan Ley, said this week she was prepared to introduce legislative changes before it the review was complete.

Read the story from The Guardian by Lisa Cox - “Bushfires leave 470 plants and 200 animals in dire straits – government analysis.”

If the bushfires won't force climate policy change, we need to circumvent Scott Morrison

It’s time to face a dreadful truth. If this bushfire crisis, this nation-wide trauma, can’t loosen the denialists’ grip on Coalition climate policy, then maybe nothing will.

‘Despite the wave of grief and anger, it’s still not clear that
 the bushfires and Australian public opinion will force this
government to change.’

That would mean everyone sifting through Scott Morrison’s verbiage for signs that he might really be intending to change direction is searching in vain, because he’s just trying to talk himself out of political trouble.

It would mean everyone patiently pointing out that the prime minister could quite easily “evolve” his current policies into something that actually reduced Australia’s greenhouse emissions could save their breath, because that isn’t the kind of evolution he is considering.

And it would mean there’s no point reprising the facts, that Australia’s emissions are flatlining, not falling, that we could seize an economic advantage in a low-carbon world and at the same time help the globe avoid the all too obvious costs of inaction. The Coalition cabal who apparently still call the shots thinks climate science is “voodoo”. They’re impervious to facts. They are already threatening, via anonymous quotes to the Australian, to “blow the place up”. Again. Just like they’ve been blowing up national climate action for more than a decade.

Read the story from The Guardian by Lenore Taylor - “If the bushfires won't force climate policy change, we need to circumvent Scott Morrison.” 

Tales of wombat ‘heroes’ have gone viral. Unfortunately, they’re not true

If you’ve been following the bushfire crisis on social media and elsewhere, you may have seen reports of benevolent wombats herding other animals to shelter into their fire-proof burrows.

Wombats may not usher other animals into their burrows,
but their warrens still protect other species in bushfires. 

These stories went quickly viral – probably reflecting the appetite for good news after the horrors of the bushfire crisis. However the accounts are not entirely accurate.

Wombats do not heroically round up helpless animals during a bushfire and lead them to safety. But wombats do help other animals in a different way – even if it’s not their intention.

Read the story from The Conversation by an Associate professor/ARC DECRA fellow from Charles Sturt University, Dale Nimmo - “Tales of wombat ‘heroes’ have gone viral. Unfortunately, they’re not true.”

Science Minister says climate denial a waste of time in wake of fires

Australia's bushfire crisis has prompted a blunt warning from Science Minister Karen Andrews to those she says are wasting time arguing about whether climate change is real.

Science Minister Karen Andrews wants Australians to
 stop wasting time arguing about whether climate
change is real and start coming up with answers to it.

Ms Andrews will convene a roundtable meeting of top scientists on Wednesday to kickstart work in response to the "devastating and surprising" bushfires this summer.

Read the story from The Age by Mike Foley - “Science Minister says climate denial a waste of time in wake of fires.”

(It's the government that is wasting time as the answers are obvious and have been known for a long time, we just need the political courage, and the social will, to implement them - Robert McLean).

‘Now is not the time': Andrews won't be drawn on Victoria's emissions cuts ahead of deadline

Premier Daniel Andrews has refused to commit to the steepest emission cuts recommended by his government's independent advice panel, saying it is not appropriate to make such an announcement while the state was in the grip of a bushfire crisis.

Premier Daniel Andrews is briefed by emergency services personnel. 

While the Premier said he accepted the grave risks posed by climate change, he controversially commented that people making "ideological points" about the need for tough new climate targets should ensure they do not distract from the emergency relief effort.

Read the story from The Age by Timna Jacks and Paul Sakkal - “‘Now is not the time': Andrews won't be drawn on Victoria's emissions cuts ahead of deadline.”

Fact check: The PM’s interview with Insiders’ host, David Speers

On Sunday, January 12 Prime Minister Scott Morrison did an interview with the host of Insiders, David Speers about the bushfire crisis and climate change. The Climate Council’s research team has fact-checked this interview.

Read the story from The Climate Council - “Fact check: The PM’s interview with Insiders’ host, David Speers.”

Scott Morrison calls for a royal commission into Australia's bushfire crisis after thousands of protesters rallied for action on climate change

Scott Morrison has called for a royal commission into the bushfire crisis following worldwide protests demanding government action on climate change. 

Three women hold placards demanding action in a rally in Sydney on Friday.

Details of the inquiry would be put to the premiers and federal cabinet in coming weeks, the prime minister said on Sunday. 

'I think Australians have a very reasonable expectation that any commission of inquiry, royal commission, would need to cover the full gamut of issues.’

Facing criticism that federal authorities sat on their hands earlier in the bushfire season, Mr Morrison said his government had acted on all recommendations put to it.

Read the story from the Daily Mail by Karen Ruiz - “Scott Morrison calls for a royal commission into Australia's bushfire crisis after thousands of protesters rallied for action on climate change.”

The path to a zero-carbon economy: Ross Garnaut

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the Government's climate policy will "continue to evolve" to "meet and beat" its global commitments. He has, however, stopped short of pledging new emissions reduction targets.

The bushfire crisis now unfolding was effectively predicted 12 years ago by the final report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review for the then Rudd Labor government.

Its lead author, economist Ross Garnaut, says Kyoto carry-over credits "do us no good at all" and warns that the less Australia does now, the more it will have to do mid-century.

Listen to a discussion between Ross Garnaut and Tom Tilley on Radio National’s Breakfast show - “The path to a zero-carbon economy: Ross Garnaut.”

‘Dangerous, misinformation': News Corp employee's fire coverage email

A News Corp employee has accused the organisation of a "misinformation campaign" filled with "irresponsible" and "dangerous" coverage of the national bushfire crisis, urging executive chairman Michael Miller to think about the "big picture”.

News Corp's coverage of the Australian bushfire crisis
has received attention from around the world.

In an email distributed to News Corp Australia staff and addressed to Mr Miller, commercial finance manager Emily Townsend said she had been filled with anxiety and disappointment over the coverage, which had impacted her ability to work.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Zoe Samios and Andrew Hornery - “‘Dangerous, misinformation': News Corp employee's fire coverage email."

A crisis of underinsurance threatens to scar rural Australia permanently

Australia is in the midst of a bushfire crisis that will affect local communities for years, if not permanently, due to a national crisis of underinsurance.

The consequences of underinsurance aren’t just personal.
 They potentially harm local communities permanently,
 as those unable to rebuild move away.

Already more than 1,500 homes have been destroyed – with months still to go in the bushfire season. Compare this to 2009, when Victoria’s “Black Saturday” fires claimed more than 2,000 homes in February, or 1983, when the “Ash Wednesday” fires destroyed about 2,400 homes in Victoria and South Australia, also in February. 

The 2020 fire season could end up surpassing these tragedies, despite the lessons learned and improvements in preparedness.

One lesson not really learned, though, is that home insurance is rarely sufficient to enable recovery. The evidence is many people losing their homes will find themselves unable to rebuild, due to lack of insurance. 

Read the story from The Conversation - “A crisis of underinsurance threatens to scar rural Australia permanently."