Submission to: NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry Addressed to:
[email protected] Submission from: Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) https://emergencyleadersforclimateaction.org.au/ Prepared on behalf of ELCA by Greg Mullins AO, AFSM Former Commissioner, Fire & Rescue NSW 15 April 2020 1 About Emergency Leaders for Climate Action Climate change is escalating Australia’s bushfire threat, placing lives, property, our economy and the environment at increasing risk. Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) was formed in April 2019 due to shared concerns about the potential of the 2019/20 bushfire season, unequivocal scientific evidence that climate change is the driver of longer, more frequent and more intense bushfire seasons, and the failure of successive governments, at all levels, to take credible, urgent action on the basic causal factor: greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas which are causing significant warming, in turn worsening extreme weather events that exacerbate and drive natural disasters such as bushfires. ELCA originally comprised 23 former fire and emergency service leaders from every fire service in Australia, from several State Emergency Service agencies, and from several forestry and national parks agencies. At the time of submission, ELCA continues to grow and now comprises 33 members, including two former Directors General of Emergency Management Australia. Cumulatively, ELCA represents about 1,000 years of experience. Key members from NSW and the ACT include: • Phil Koperberg AO, AFSM, BEM. Former Commissioner NSW Rural Fire Service. Former Chair, NSW State Emergency Management Committee. Former NSW Minister for the Environment. • Greg Mullins AO, AFSM. Former Commissioner Fire & Rescue NSW.