The Central Queensland Bushfires Recovery Plan 2018-21 has failed to protect our Deepwater and Baffle Creek community.
Member for Burnett Stephen Bennett has criticized the plan saying it has blatantly ignored the hard facts on bushfire management in the state.
“It’s as if the Labor Government learnt nothing from the latest bushfires that ripped through the Discovery Coast,” Mr Bennett said.
“The Government has once again completely ignored the fact that suitable fuel reduction and land management were not undertaken on state-controlled land in the lead up to last year’s disastrous fires.
“Their refusal to acknowledge the need for sensible, planned and regular cool burns in national parks meant that 82 per cent Deepwater National Park was burned out.
“Or from the Government’s own report, 140,000 hectares of national parks and state forests around the State.
“Not only did this fire take thousands of animals and plants, it took our businesses, homes and families livelihoods.
“There have been nearly 1000 less Hazard Reduction Burns conducted and attended by the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service in 2018 compared to 2015.
“We know the Labor Government has failed to implement a single recommendation from the Queensland Auditor-General’s 2015 Bushfire Prevention and Preparedness Report.
“The parliamentary inquiry the LNP called for would have investigated whether the state Labor Government deliberately, or through its own mismanagement, allowed Queensland to become susceptible to bushfires.
“Queenslanders deserve a government with a clear plan moving forward that properly addresses the elephant in the room around state-controlled land mismanagement.
“Only the LNP will undertake the appropriate fuel reduction burns and free landholders from bureaucratic red tape, so they can manage their land and limit the impact of bushfires in Queensland.”
03/04/19