Aussie Bush Fires
-
@mariner4life said in Aussie Bush Fires:
@Siam said in Aussie Bush Fires:
@antipodean awesome, thanks mate.
Aaanndd once again, a multifaceted, complex problem can't be solved with a simple "It's all your fault...."
If you needed this thread to tell you that, then you have a problem
Thanks yoda👏
-
@chimoaus said in Aussie Bush Fires:
Any idea why there is not one co-ordinated fire organisation in Australia with plenty of funding and resources? Did I hear a rumour you could buy 20 water bombers or 1 fighter plane. I know which ones would be more useful around now.
Because of our Constitution.
And water bombers can't defend the air-sea gap.
-
@antipodean Defend against who?
-
@chimoaus said in Aussie Bush Fires:
@antipodean Defend against who?
Prospective enemies to our North, in a volatile area where just under 50% of global trade by volume worth trillions of dollars is transported. More than 30% of global maritime crude oil went through the South China Sea in 2016. The bits where China is building artificial islands, playing maritime bumper cars against Japan and Philippines for example.
-
@chimoaus said in Aussie Bush Fires:
Any idea why there is not one co-ordinated fire organisation in Australia with plenty of funding and resources? Did I hear a rumour you could buy 20 water bombers or 1 fighter plane. I know which ones would be more useful around now.
As was explained to me by a lawyer here recently Australia is essentially a collection of eight different countries, each with different laws.
Each state has it's own Police, Emergency Services etc.
For example, if you arrest someone in Qld for crime in NSW you have to go through an extradition process.
And most bushfire emergencies aren't or haven't been this widespread.
-
I was with my in-laws for the week at Dalmeny, just north of Narooma. NYE was scary but we were never really under threat.
The blackouts and lack of phone reception were trying, but it was only a few days and we managed to survive pretty well. The ABC radio service was truly outstanding in this time.
A lot of people had evacuated to Narooma, including many who lost their homes in Cobargo and Quaarma. People camping on the golf course, by the roadside, on the headland. Fuel lines about 700m long.
They did a really amazing job to open the roads, and we drove back to Sydney yesterday via the Princes and Snowy Highway. Initially driving through the southern fireground with trees still burning by the roadside, and then up through the high country where the smoke and fog meant visibility of only 20-30m at times.
We have been very anxious about the town as my in-laws stayed to defend their house. It's in town but on the outskirts and not too far from bushland. They set up their caravan on the headland if they needed to evacuate, so they would be OK for water, food, a bed if it came to that.
But thankfully today has been (so far) a bit of a fizzer on the far south coast. The westerly wind hasn't got to them yet and the southerly should hit soon.
People further north haven't been so lucky.
-
@barbarian said in Aussie Bush Fires:
I was with my in-laws for the week at Dalmeny, just north of Narooma. NYE was scary but we were never really under threat.
The blackouts and lack of phone reception were trying, but it was only a few days and we managed to survive pretty well. The ABC radio service was truly outstanding in this time.
A lot of people had evacuated to Narooma, including many who lost their homes in Cobargo and Quaarma. People camping on the golf course, by the roadside, on the headland. Fuel lines about 700m long.
They did a really amazing job to open the roads, and we drove back to Sydney yesterday via the Princes and Snowy Highway. Initially driving through the southern fireground with trees still burning by the roadside, and then up through the high country where the smoke and fog meant visibility of only 20-30m at times.
We have been very anxious about the town as my in-laws stayed to defend their house. It's in town but on the outskirts and not too far from bushland. They set up their caravan on the headland if they needed to evacuate, so they would be OK for water, food, a bed if it came to that.
But thankfully today has been (so far) a bit of a fizzer on the far south coast. The westerly wind hasn't got to them yet and the southerly should hit soon.
People further north haven't been so lucky.
Interestingly I just saw the following tweet:
-
Noticed this article on the NY Times site. I'm sure it will divide many.
Australia Is Committing Climate Suicide https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/opinion/australia-fires-climate-change.html -
@chimoaus said in Climate Change #3 & Other Environmental Issues:
Noticed this article on the NY Times site. I'm sure it will divide many.
Australia Is Committing Climate Suicide https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/opinion/australia-fires-climate-change.htmlMy rule of thumb when it comes to opinion pieces you have that many blue links in an article it suggests to me that you have a point you want to prove and interviewed your keyboard to find as many articles that support what you already believe. Classic example is this https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/11/08/how-the-far-right-is-poisoning-new-zealand/ , that NY times article is pretty close too.
-
Thoughts on this? The point that politicians in all parties are venal short sighted and self serving is hard to argue against
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=12298041
-
@chimoaus said in Climate Change #3 & Other Environmental Issues:
Noticed this article on the NY Times site. I'm sure it will divide many.
Australia Is Committing Climate Suicide https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/opinion/australia-fires-climate-change.htmlThat's an embarrassing read. Let's focus on a couple of paragraphs:
In no small part Mr. Morrison owes his narrow election victory last year to the coal-mining oligarch Clive Palmer, who formed a puppet party to keep the Labor Party — which had been committed to limited but real climate-change action — out of government. Mr. Palmer’s advertising budget for the campaign was more than double that of the two major parties combined. Mr. Palmer subsequently announced plans to build the biggest coal mine in Australia.
That's a spectacular level of revisionist bullshit. Palmer would've taken voters from the Liberal National coalition. Palmer's "United Australia Party" received 2.36% of the Senate vote and 3.43% of the first preference votes for the House of Reps. 65.14% of two party preferences went to the Liberal National coalition.
That Clive announced plans to build a coal plant is meaningless.
BTW, you can't have 'limited but real climate-change action'. It's all or nothing.
Mr. Morrison made his name as immigration minister, perfecting the cruelty of a policy that interns refugees in hellish Pacific-island camps
Those refugees live better than quite a few Australians do. Interestingly, for people seeking to escape persecution, some of those accepted by the USA have subsequently elected to go back to those same hellish camps.
Under legislation pending in Tasmania
Nothing to do with the Federal government.
The situation is eerily reminiscent of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, when the ruling apparatchiks were all-powerful but losing the fundamental, moral legitimacy to govern.
When your argument devolves to "moral legitimacy", you don't have one.
I might point out there's plenty of reasons to give this government shit, but Flanagan is either incapable, or unwilling.
-
@jegga said in Climate Change #3 & Other Environmental Issues:
Thoughts on this? The point that politicians in all parties are venal short sighted and self serving is hard to argue against
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=12298041
General gist is spot on. Missed in a few spots, but no rant should hit every target.
-
Aucklanders
The haze was so bad that a "high number" of worried Aucklanders had rung 111 to alert police. Police issued a statement asking people to keep the line clear for emergencies only
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118593619/australia-bushfires-more-smoke-on-its-way-to-new-zealand
-
@taniwharugby said in Aussie Bush Fires:
Aucklanders
The haze was so bad that a "high number" of worried Aucklanders had rung 111 to alert police. Police issued a statement asking people to keep the line clear for emergencies only
Are these people 13 years old? How stupid must one be to need to be told to stay off the line unless they have an emergency? What did they expect the emergency services people to do for them?
They would fit in nicely with the renowned Aussie good humour, resilience, resourcefulness, independence and appreciation for a helping hand in the face of adversity:
Scott Morrison's actions 'not lost' on bushfire effected community: Eden resident
Sky News 05/01/20Greta Stojanovic – the owner of the Wharfside Café in Eden – has told Sky News many residents of the border town have been left frustrated by the lack of information and resources on the ground as an out of control bushfire bores down on the town.
Residents had been told to evacuate by road to nearby coastal towns of Merimbula or Pambula, but Ms Stojanovic said many chose to stay after being informed resources would not be allocated to save the town.
“There should also be fire trucks available to fight fire here. I don’t really understand why we can’t be fighting it when it's an imminent threat to our town,” the café owner said.
“We were just told the resources for fighting the fires were just going to be around where evacuation zones are … so we’re not going to rely on somebody to come rescue us when it happens.
“Obviously I’ve seen the maps of the whole country so obviously it's going to places that need it but we do feel … the level of resources is low.”
When asked, Ms Stojanovic told Sky News the sentiment on the ground towards Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the government was “very negative”.
“People are horrified everywhere with how Scott Morrison has approached this … it’s not lost on the community,” Ms Stojanovic said.
Right alongside Our Greta's personal humanitarian crisis we see this brief report:
Jakarta flood death toll rises to 60
Sky News 05/01/20At least 60 people have died in Indonesia's capital of Jakarta due to landslides and flooding. Monsoonal rain on New Year's Eve submerged a dozen districts in the greater Jakarta area.
Rescuers have struggled to search for people under mud in the area's worst flooding since 2007. Floodwaters have started to recede in some parts, however the death toll is likely to rise.