Fire inquiries must be open to all

As heavy rains drench the east coast and bring some relief to our fire-ravaged state, there is opportunity to take stock and get started on contemplating the lessons in a season we would all rather forget.

High among those considerations, which must also include climate change, is hazard reduction. On Friday, the Herald revealed the first legal action arising from the summer, with six farmers arguing a massive bushfire in northern NSW could have been prevented if more hazard reduction had been allowed. The lawyer representing the farmers told the Herald some plaintiffs were seeking compensation, while others wanted to see significant changes to land-clearing policies.

The various commissions of inquiry into the fires by state and federal governments will be crucial to getting to the truth of the latter vexed issue. So far, it appears the federal government’s royal commission will be framed in terms of federal-state relations: whether the federal government can intervene to call a national emergency, for example, and analysis of the at-times conflicting ideals of national and state parks management, which has ramifications for hazardreduction strategies.

Good governance and public interest demand that these hearings be open and accessible to all, because that is the best way to reinforce the community’s confidence in the accountability process and any future decisions that must be made.