Sky News host Paul Murray says despite the talk suggesting Australia is prepared to tackle another potentially devastating bushfire season, there are “some worrying signs” we may not be able to deal with what happened last year.
“Yes, there have been some improvements, particularly with greater commitments to hazard reduction, but we don’t know how much hazard reduction has actually been done to this point,” Mr Murray said.
“What we do know is that there are still some pretty serious concerns for the men and women who will volunteer hundreds of hours of their time. Tens of thousands of these people will put their summers aside. It could be for a couple of days, or it could be for weeks and weeks on end.”
Mr Murray said in Victoria, despite the record spending in their recent state budget, the country fire authority said not enough money had been spent to replace old fire-fighting equipment.
“This was a problem in Victoria during the past fire season,” he said.
“This matters.”