My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Cargoton woman from Gadigul country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Mister, what nice to see you. Thanks, thanks for taking this on the fly.
That's okay. I've heard a lot about you guys, but I don't think I've ever done anything with you.
Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Tuesday, the twenty sixth of September. I'm Sam, I'm Billy.
I'm the editor of.
The Daily OS and according to experts, Australia could be about to face one of the most challenging bush fire seasons in modern history. With record high temperatures already seen this month, landscapes are ready to burn after a number of rain heavy years an extreme dry heat on the radar, Emergency authorities are rushing to prepare for the worst. Yesterday, Australia's first National Disaster Preparedness summit got underway. It continues
today with a full scale emergency simulation. Joining me on the podcast today is Australia's Minister for Emergency Management, Murray What. He's the person in Anthony Alberanese's government who's in charge of making sure Australia is preparing for natural disasters. So are we ready for the bush fire season? I'm going to put that to him in today's interview, But first, Billy what is making headlines this morning?
New employment measures have been announced to encourage older Australians to either keep working or return to work. The government has announced incentives for age pension recipients and eligible veterans who will be able to work more without their pension being impacted under a new bonus scheme. Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth said the changes would help to remove barriers often faced by those looking to re enter the workforce.
Australia's tourism economy is expected to be boosted by a decision to allow Chinese tourism groups to return to Australia. Visa processing applications for Chinese tour operators recommenced on Monday after a suspension in the wake of the pandemic. The government said Chinese Group Tours contributed almost six hundred million dollars to the Australian tourism industry in twenty nineteen. That represented almost a third of the entire contribution from Chinese tourism in Australia.
And big news for the TV and film industry, the Writer's Guild of America has agreed to a tentative deal with Hollywood Studios one hundred and forty six days after strike action began. The details of the proposed agreement have not been made public, but were described by WGA as exceptional. A vote to accept the deal is expected to occur in the coming days.
And today's good news, Tigersta Cipher has broken the women's marathon world record. A Cipher finished the Berlin Marathon in just under two hours and twelve mo minutes. It's more than two minutes faster than the record set back in twenty nineteen.
Almost as fast as you can do hesa.
Really as fast, mister what Welcome to the podcast. Give me a sense of where you've come from, where you're driving to.
Today's a bit of a crazy day. Actually, I'm going to be going through four different cities today. I started out this morning in Canberra where we had the opening of the Preparedness Summit, and I'm currently on my way to a cabinet meeting in Adelaide. But to get here I had to go through Sydney and then I'll be flying home to Brisbane tonight. That is an unusually busy day.
That's a lot of carbon emissions.
It is. It's not ideal, and it's why we try not to do it very regularly.
And how was the Preparedness Summit announcement with there any tangible actions already that've come out of that.
Yeah, Look, I think it's been a really good exercise. The point of the National Disaster Preparedness Summit, and this is the first time one has ever been held, is to bring together about two hundred and fifty to three hundred tree, government and community leaders to make sure we're all on the same page about the coming disaster season. I mean, we already know that we're going to be facing much hotter, drier conditions than we have really since Black Summer.
And while all the.
Fire authorities have been working hard for months to be ready, it's important we also bring together the community sector and the private sector to make sure sure that everyone's on the same page, understands what we're likely to be facing and is ready to deal with it.
But from where you're sitting at the moment, do you feel like Australia is ready for the bushfire season?
Yes?
I do. I feel confident that we're as well prepared as we possibly can be, and we're certainly a lot better prepared than we were as a country heading into black summer. You know, you can never completely eliminate risk in a country like Australia, and as I say, whatever we do, we know we are going to be facing serious bushfires and heat waves then for a while now. But the least we can do is make sure that everyone's ready, and that's what we're certainly trying to do.
There's been major natural disasters, bit floods, fires in Australia. There's always this discussion that happens, and we often write explainers about whose job is it to respond? Is it a state government's job to respond? Is it the federal government's job to respond? What's your answer to that? Whose job is it?
Look, I think it's clear that primarily states and territories have responsibility when it comes to disaster management, but there is no doubting that the federal government have an important leadership role, and I think that's probably something we've tried to do differently from the former coalition government. You know, you mon't be hearing elbow talking about not holding a hose right fingerpointing at states and things like that.
So yeah, look, I think that we'll always see disaster.
Management primarily a state responsibility, but the federal government does have that national leadership role. And of course there's particular things we do around funding for prevention and recovery. We obviously provide the defense forces in critical times as well, but bottom line is we want to work cooperatively with people and get the best outcome.
I'm going to discuss the role of the army in the Defense Force in all of this, because there's been some interesting commentary of the last few days about a review that said that the defense force shouldn't really be part of the response, it rather should be a last resort. Do you agree with that assessment from the review?
Yes, I do.
I mean the reality is that our defense forces, their key job is obviously the defense of the nation, and let's face it, we do live in a bit of a more uncertain world these days, and every time we take our defense forces out to help with disasters, that is time that they're not spending preparing and they're doing their training.
Exercises, which we need them to do.
Having said that, I want to be really clear that in a major crisis situation, I can guarantee people that the Defense Forces will be there to help. And an actual fact, right now or over the last couple of weeks, we've had Defense Force personnel and equipment in the Northern Territory.
Helping deal with some of the bush buyers up there.
But what we do need to do is get to a point where they're seen as the last resort rather than the first port of call.
You. So, I've seen the Defense Forces in action in disaster situations.
They do an incredible job and there are times when only they are up to the job and the equipment that they have and the skills they have, But we can't over rely on them. We're trying to put in place some alternatives as a way of reducing that pressure but still making sure Australians get the support they need.
So let's have a think about those alternatives. I mean, we've got declining numbers of volunteer firefighters, and one of the interesting ideas that's been tabled this week has been a future where young Australians could potentially have some sort of national mandatory community service, so you could see young people actually serving their time as a volunteer firefighter. What do you think of that model?
Look, I probably don't support mandating those kind of things for people.
I think people should be given those sorts of options.
But I do think that there probably are some young people who might be interested in a voluntary form of service that is probably more about disaster preparation and resilience, which obviously has a strong environmental connection as well, a bit like say the Army reserves. Not every young person is going to want to go into the Army reserves, but there might be the younger people who are interested in doing something that's about helping prevent environmental damage from
disasters and things like that. But it's not as if that would be the only option, and we're a long way from making those decisions yet. As I say, one option might be simply about helping the states and territories to build up their volunteer forces, given they are primarily in charge.
Should we be paying for volunteer fire fighters?
Look, I think we've probably given the scale of the task that we face, I think we are always going to be relying on volunteers to a degree. But I remember through Black Summer and even since then, I've met volunteers all around the country and there is a high level of fatigue because of how much people have been
relied on. There are some states and territories at the moment who have what are called auxiliary firefighters, who are people who are effectively put on part time employment, particularly during fire seasons, and that's what they do in some other countries as well, So they might be scope for that kind of thing. But I don't think it's realistic to think that every single person who helps out in a disaster situation is going to be a paid employee.
And I think there's something about the Australian spirit about volunteering to help out each other in those situations as well.
Last question from me. Let's say that you and I are having a chat in April or May next year, and I ask you how the fire season was. What would a successful bush fire season look like to you?
It would be a season where everyone who had a role to play, came together and did the very best they could without trying to apportion blame and try to buck pass and avoid responsibility.
I mean, I can't guarantee.
That we won't lose properties, and god forbid, even lives or animals or environmental damage.
You know, they are always risks in disaster seasons.
But what I want to make sure of is that we are as well prepared as we possibly can and that we all cooperate.
When things get real.
And if we do that, I think we can really limit the damage and limit the loss of life, which is really what we need to be about at WATT.
Thanks for joining us on the road. We appreciate your time.
Great to jalk Sam, thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Daily Ez. If you liked it, you can leave us a review on Spotify or Apple and Salmon Zara will be back with you tomorrow