Belly,
I think I've said this before but when I was in Qld I and the local SES district commander arranged a bushfire awareness meeting in a particularly vulnerable outer Brisbane area. They and the fire brigade had estimated the fire hazard had been estimated as extremely High with between 16-18 Tonnes of dry/drying fuel per hectare.
The firebreak access track at the back of the houses had been (ab)used to store illegally gained fire wood, a chook house, a place to store Boats and even a car service pit had been dug all of which was illegal.

Well no body came to the meeting, The council went round and told the people to clean up their illegalities for safety reasons. As I had been seen with the Commander and delivered the flier speaking to every house in the area, I was victimized, threatened etc....because I had "interrupted their lifestyle".
PS 12 mths latter it burned the properties back yards sustained damage one house was destroyed. Last trip I noted all the blockages were back albeit in different form. And I was told to **.
The load is due to the rain is higher and waiting to burn in the dry.
Some people don't want to learn...(god bless those 60 properties...someone had better.)
PPS. Because of the proximity to the sea the average home owner is 55+
and records show that about 40% are from interstate etc.

It is much deeper than that Desmond, and I understand and agree examinator.
Those people I want to help are not always unknowing city dwellers in the bush.
Killer fires more often kill city dwellers on the outskirts of towns.
I refuse to put a price on their heads.
We can make it better, people like examinator try, government red tape and control by those who never will understand kills .
Now it kills more and more often.
Desmond we need people to live outside our city's, to provide food and so much more.
We however do not need fools to try to change the very nature of our bushland
invite Ludwig if he is around, to comment on some natives trees building up bark and such under the trees so it will burn, be converted to food and clear ground for seedlings.
We should not try to change nature by having fire storms instead of slow burning winter fires.

Belly,
Saw this only this morning. Step in the right direction and I would like more details.

"A trees-before-humans green madness is rolled back (too late):

RESIDENTS in fire-prone areas across Victoria will be free to remove trees and native vegetation near their homes under a State Government strategy designed to avoid a repeat of February’s deadly Black Saturday bushfires.

Under new rules, property owners will not need a council permit to remove trees and vegetation within 10 metres of their homes. They will also be allowed to remove low-lying vegetation, such as shrubs and scrub, out to 30 metres from homes....

The Government is also moving to cut bureaucratic red tape to enable residents to collect firewood from roadsides, after authorities complained that their ability to tackle the February fires was hampered by undergrowth.

Remember the pre-fires madness, when people were fined for clearing trees around their homes, picking up dead sticks, and creating the fire breaks that saved their house?

"Under new rules, property owners will not need a council permit to remove trees and vegetation within 10 metres of their homes"
Ten metres is not enouph! We need at least 30 meters to be sure.
Instead of the iresponsible, beaurocratic local counsils it is better to Give more power to residents to protect their properties, our forests and wild animals!
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

Rudd’s tut tutting about the Victorian Bushfires, instead of making a decisive impact in that State, as the paramount leader of the paramount State in Australia should be causing Belly to feel a bit queasy, despite his bravado. It should be causing all Labor supporters to feel uneasy. It makes me feel uneasy too.

The fact is that in none of the big eastern Australian States is the electorate going to have a chance to throw out a State Government before the Commonwealth must go again. Victoria is set to go after the Commonwealth must go again. Queensland does not get another chance for three years, and New South Wales is set to go after the next Federal Election too.

There is enormous dissatisfaction in Victoria, with its State Government, New South Wales is a basket case according to Belly, and Queensland is a dictator’s paradise. The Commonwealth can do something about the bushfire situation, because it has the power. The power it has is the power to take over and control the forces to execute and maintain the laws of the Commonwealth, granted by Section 51 Placitum vi. It can make laws for the peace order and good government of the Commonwealth, and for the people of any race for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws. In this authority any means every. No matter what race a person is, he or she is entitled to live a life free of fear, and fear of death by fire, is almost a universal fear.

Unless Rudd bites the bullet and accepts responsibility for fire control, his office will have to answer for the next disaster. There are going to be some big ones in New South Wales too, in all probability, Canberra had a whopper not too long ago, this is a National Problem, and needs a National Answer.

Gillard may be thinking it’s really nice to be on the top of a mountain. The thing is that once there the only way off is down, unless she can make it a plateau. Its time Kevin took control

If an Arab pyrotechnician had lit the Victorian bushfires, the response would have been instantaneous, and decisive. Ever how many died, their deaths were unnecessary. These people were killed by State Government stupidity that the Commonwealth can do something about.

The Commonwealth has the power, it has the money and it has a ready supply of personnel to mobilize in any such national emergency, so why has it sat on its hands for 109 years. There are some things so important that they are a Commonwealth responsibility. One of these is personal security, and security from fire is another. In State after State there are ample instances of Police Corruption, Fire services should be under the control of the Commonwealth, and so should the Police.

There should be a universal career option for Police equal to service in the armed forces, and ample resources to keep them in a job, for life, free from State political interference. The patronage available to State politicians to sell to criminals is available because the State of Australia has never fully integrated its law enforcement resources.

The career path for a Policeman should be a national one, not limited to State borders. This State of Australia was deliberately not made a United States, and the career path for Firemen should be a National one as well.

Before this bushfire season, Kevin Rudd should reform the Federal Court so as to make the Commonwealth responsible under the Constitution for dereliction of duty under the Constitution. The Commonwealth should pay damages to the victims of the Victorian Bushfires, and all others, because it is responsible as the ultimate authority. The buck stops at the lodge.

If there are no precautionary burns undertaken to guarantee that the bush does not burn like it did, before the electorate has another chance to make a judgment, or adequate resources made available including the full might of the military, to ensure fire security, the government may not be safe. It has the power, let’s see it use it to save its own hide. The Red Steer is merciless.