FNQ has less & less rain every year since about the early 80's. Heat is not noticeably more.
Generators are running full bore everywhere just to keep up with air conditioners.
Government buildings are miniature temperate climate enclaves in the tropics.
All this is brought on by Government regulation dictated to by Public Service Unions to make life very comfortable for those incompetent southern bureaucrats who don't actually want to be here but hey, the money's good.

Extreme weather events are not going to go away any time soon. Just get more extreme.
Ocean temps; are steadily on the rise.
Co2 in the atmosphere is rising.
A known green house gas for 150 years.
A big scream will be on, Why havn't the govt; done this that and the other, if they knew GW was happening.
Head in sand dwellers, will be to blame.

JBowyer gave me the benefit of his wide experience with bush-fires. "Just clean up around your yard," he opined showing to the world his infinite city ignorance.

Surprise, surprise, my homestead is surrounded by paddocks that hold feed. What should I do, JB? Mow the paddocks and let the stock starve?

And besides, when a fire really gets going and is driven by strong winds, embers can be thrown well ahead of the fire front (ember attack) and potentially get caught in the smallest of places around a home to ignite.

When humans moved to cities, they obviously lost their commonsense.

Poirot,
I also recall Tim saying that it would never rain again enough to fill dams and drought would be permanant fixture. Funny huh!

Anyone that thinks we have an influence over the worlds climate has rocks in their head and place our importance in natures scheme far too highly.

David G,
About time you educated yourself about how to defend your home in case of bushfire. There is much you can do, graze out area close to home to reduce fuel there. One single electric wire will keep a couple of horses enclosed and they will graze it almost bare. What about yard sprinklers to keep lawns green and remove flamable bushes and other material from near the home. Sprinklers also can protect home from embers. Of caurse it takes a little thought and a few bob spent. Plenty of reading material available for those not experienced.

I live rural and have worked too hard to see it all go up in smoke, so I have made my homestead my refuge and will stay and defend it no matter what. 40 year in bushfire brigade taught me valuable lessons.

Make your place safe and stay put and defend, even the purchasse of breathing apparutus has proven worthwhile. The vast majority of homes burnt are unoccupied at the time when one person could have saved the place. Make it safe and do not evacuate!

Of course if you want to live in a tinder box that is a different story.

If David G was even 5% of the way up the learning curve he would realise that he needs to get the electric fence out so he can crash graze a 100m buffer around his homestead. And then he could spend a lazy $100 on overhead sprinklers (bronze, not plastic, which melts) so any fire that does project over the buffer will not get through the mushroom of water from the sprinklers. The Coonan family had this in place when the 2003 ACT fires went right over their house.

And as for Greenpimp, don't any of their people have the ability to write their own stuff? Everything they produce has clearly come off the one corporate song sheet.

David G, if your homestead is that fire prone, it should never have been built in the Oz bush.

Having stood for the many years that make it a heritage listing, I would say this can not be the case. Therefor your problem is with the greenie influence, that has made our bush a more dangerous place.

Recent temperatures are no different to those experienced many times in the past. In that past still in memory, we fought bush fires on foot, or from little farm vehicles. That we need helicopters & fire trucks today, & still can't win, is down to greenie stupidity, & state wide management of fire fighting by bureaucrats.

It sure has nothing to do with coal, unless you have a huge stockpile against your house.