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Responses To, and Lessons Learnt From, the January and February 2016 Bushfires in Remote Tasmanian Wilderness

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Responses To, and Lessons Learnt From, the January and February 2016 Bushfires in Remote Tasmanian Wilderness The Senate Environment and Communications References Committee Responses to, and lessons learnt from, the January and February 2016 bushfires in remote Tasmanian wilderness December 2016 © Commonwealth of Australia 2016 ISBN: 978-1-76010-485-6 Committee contact details PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Tel: 02 6277 3526 Fax: 02 6277 5818 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.aph.gov.au/senate_ec This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/. This document was printed by the Senate Printing Unit, Parliament House, Canberra ii Committee membership Committee members in the 45th Parliament Senator Nick McKim, Chair AG, TAS Senator James Paterson, Deputy Chair (from 5 December 2016) LP, VIC Senator David Bushby, Deputy Chair (to 5 December 2016) LP, TAS Senator Anthony Chisholm ALP, QLD Senator Sam Dastyari ALP, NSW Senator Jonathon Duniam LP, TAS Senator Anne Urquhart ALP, TAS Substitute member for this inquiry Senator Nick McKim (AG, TAS) for Senator Larissa Waters (AG, QLD) from 10 October 2016 Participating member for this inquiry Senator Peter Whish-Wilson AG, TAS Committee members in the 44th Parliament Senator Anne Urquhart, Chair ALP, TAS Senator Linda Reynolds CSC, Deputy Chair LP, WA Senator Chris Back LP, WA Senator Joe Bullock (to 13 April 2016) ALP, WA Senator Anne McEwen (from 18 April 2016) ALP, SA Senator the Hon Lisa Singh ALP, TAS Senator Larissa Waters AG, QLD Substitute member for this inquiry Senator Nick McKim (AG, TAS) for Senator Larissa Waters (AG, QLD) from 17 March 2016 Committee secretariat Ms Christine McDonald, Committee Secretary Mr Gerry McInally, Acting Committee Secretary Ms Fattimah Imtoual, Senior Research Officer Ms Monika Sheppard, Senior Research Officer Ms Michelle Macarthur-King, Administration Officer Ms Hannah Dunn, Administration Officer iii iv Table of contents Committee membership ................................................................................... iii List of recommendations ..................................................................................vii Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction and background ........................................................ 1 Reference ................................................................................................................ 1 Conduct of the inquiry, acknowledgement and note on references ....................... 2 Structure of the report ............................................................................................. 2 Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area ......................................................... 3 The 2016 bushfires and their estimated impact on the TWWHA .......................... 5 Chapter 2: Impact of climate change ................................................................ 9 Fire conditions and dry lightning strike ................................................................. 9 Climate research ................................................................................................... 13 Planning for climate change ................................................................................. 18 Committee view .................................................................................................... 20 Chapter 3: Assessment and modelling capacity ............................................. 23 Australian fire models .......................................................................................... 23 TASVEG .............................................................................................................. 26 Current efforts to develop a Tasmania-specific fire model .................................. 27 Committee view .................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 4: Financial, human and mechanical resources .............................. 33 Available firefighting resources ........................................................................... 33 Resources provided in response to the 2016 bushfires......................................... 35 Concerns about the availability and provision of resources ................................. 35 Concerns about the Tasmanian Government's response ...................................... 42 Prioritisation of environmental assets .................................................................. 51 Committee view .................................................................................................... 58 v Chapter 5: World Heritage Convention and remote area fire management ....................................................................................................... 61 Australia's World Heritage Convention obligations ............................................. 61 Compliance with the World Heritage Convention ............................................... 62 Upholding World Heritage values ........................................................................ 66 World best practice in remote area fire management ........................................... 67 Committee view .................................................................................................... 71 Coalition Senators' Dissenting Report ............................................................ 73 APPENDIX 1: Submissions, tabled documents, additional information, and answers to questions taken on notice .............................................................. 79 APPENDIX 2: Public hearings ........................................................................ 81 vi List of recommendations Recommendation 1 2.45 The committee recommends that the Australian Government: • recognise that climate change has increased fire conditions in south-eastern Australia and the risk to natural and cultural values in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area; and • report annually to the World Heritage Committee on the state of conservation in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Recommendation 2 3.38 The committee recommends that the Australian Government, in cooperation with the Tasmanian Government: • recognise the need to identify the ecological and biodiversity impacts of fire on fire sensitive vegetation communities, organic soils and endemic fauna species in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area; and • allocate long-term funding to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and/or the Tasmanian Government to assist with the development of fire assessment and modelling specifically suited to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Recommendation 3 4.98 The committee recommends that the Australian Government, in conjunction with state and territory governments, investigate a national remote area firefighting capability, to support Australian fire agencies. Recommendation 4 4.100 The committee recommends that the Australian Government commit to long-term funding for the National Aerial Firefighting Centre of an amount that is at least equal to the government's current contribution, rising in line with the Consumer Price Index. Recommendation 5 5.48 The committee recommends that the Australian Government recognise the need to enhance protection and conservation efforts in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area by allocating increased funding: • to the Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania, for appropriate management activities and resources; and • for research projects aimed at providing qualitative and quantitative data specific to climate-related and ecological threats to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (such as dry lightning strike). vii Recommendation 6 5.49 The committee recommends that the Australian and Tasmanian Governments: • develop options to increase co-operation to ensure that the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area is protected and conserved in line with Australia's obligations under the World Heritage Convention; and • work together to ensure strong provisions to protect the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area from bushfire risks are included in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area Management Plan. viii Abbreviations ADF Australian Defence Force AFAC Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council AGD Attorney-General's Department AIA Arrangements for Interstate Assistance BNH CRC Bushfire and Natural Hazards Co-operative Research Centre BRAM Bushfire Risk Assessment Model COMDISPLAN Australian Government Disaster Response Plan CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation DEE Department of the Environment and Energy DPIPWE Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (Tas) EMA Emergency Management Australia EPBC Act Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 NAFC National Aerial Firefighting Centre OUV Outstanding Universal Value PWS Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania TASVEG Tasmania's layered vegetation map TFS Tasmania Fire Service TWWHA Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ix x Chapter 1 Introduction and background Reference 1.1 On 17 March 2016, the Senate referred the following matter to the Environment and Communications References Committee (the committee) for
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