Hell fires
A disaster worsened by capitalism
THE DEATH toll from February’s bushfires in
Victoria, south eastern Australia, currently stands at over 200. This is
Australia’s worst natural disaster, much worse than the Ash Wednesday
fires in 1983 when 47 people died. Dozens more people are suffering from
serious burns and smoke inhalation. On top of the tragic deaths and
injuries, more than 750 homes have been destroyed and at least 330,000
hectares of land have been burnt. Residents have compared the scenes to
the aftermath of a nuclear war.
The bushfire disaster has shown some of the best
examples of human solidarity coupled with some of the worst examples of
the failure of a profit-driven system. Heroic stories of ordinary people
saving the lives of strangers have emerged. One off-duty nurse has told
of having to administer first aid to burns victims in a makeshift
shelter because help failed to arrive.
Temperatures across eastern Australia soared into
the high 40s Celsius over the weekend. The heat was unbearable in the
urban centres but it was like hell on earth in rural areas where one
resident described it as ‘raining flames’. At one stage, more than 400
fires were blazing in every part of Victoria and almost 60 fires across
New South Wales.
The drought of recent years, and higher temperatures
due to climate change, has led to a marked increase in the amount of
bushfires. Victoria has recorded its lowest rainfall levels on record
which has meant that bush undergrowth is bone dry. While there is no
doubt that the drought has contributed to the bushfires, it is also true
that much of the devastation could have been prevented.
The state and federal governments have attempted to
lay the blame on arsonists. While a few of the fires may well have been
started by firebugs, the vast majority were a result of the extreme
conditions. The question is: did the state and federal governments do
everything in their power to mitigate the worst effects of the fires?
For years, rural communities like those in Gippsland,
Kinglake and Bendigo have been hit hard by cuts to services. It has not
just been cuts to health, education and transport but fire fighting and
emergency services budgets which have also been slashed. There is a
severe shortage of doctors, nurses and emergency services staff in rural
areas and this cost people their lives in a time of crisis.
At a national level, government spending on bushfire
research is less than $2 million a year. In Victoria, the Labor state
government allocates a measly $252 million a year for rural fire
prevention. For a country covered with bush and prone to extreme weather
this is totally inadequate.
On top of the cuts and lack of investment in
prevention, rural fire fighting relies almost entirely on unpaid
volunteers. The Victorian Country Fire Authority (CFA) website states
that the "CFA is one of the world’s largest volunteer-based emergency
services. There are around 58,000 volunteer members supported by over
400 career fire fighters and officers and more than 700 career support
and administrative staff".
While the work of these volunteers is nothing short
of amazing, the idea that less than 2% of those who fight fires in
Victoria are full-time professionals is a sick joke. There needs to be a
massive expansion of full-time professional fire fighting staff. These
skilled workers need to be paid decent wages to reflect the important
work that they do. Those who do the job on a part-time or casual basis
should also be paid proper wages.
Many of the lives, homes and natural environment
that have been lost could have been saved if proper resources were made
available. Blaming arsonists is just a diversionary tactic by the
government. The main reason that money is not made available is because,
at the moment, decisions are being made on the basis of dollars and not
sense. A system based on the short term, and geared to profit, is
incapable of mitigating the worst effects of bushfires. In fact,
capitalism has made this disaster far worse than it needed to be.
That is why if we really want to reduce the risk of
death and destruction from natural disaster, it is urgent we fight to
put an end to the profit driven system of capitalism. We need a system
based on human solidarity, co-operation and democracy, the types of
qualities that working people have instinctively shown during this
disaster.
Anthony Main
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