Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro Fiona Kotvojs has told the bushfires royal commission the only issue that mattered in the aftermath of the Black Summer bushfires was reducing fuel loads.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"For us, there is only one issue, fuel load. Unless this is addressed, everything else is meaningless," Dr Kotvojs said in a newly-published submission.
She also criticised government disaster recovery efforts for failing to use local businesses as part of the clean-up.
"We would also encourage more focus on using businesses from the impacted region for recovery work. Unfortunately, many of the businesses involved in the clean-up work - both that managed by the state government and by insurers - in Bega Valley and Eurobodalla are from Sydney and do not employ people locally. This does not contribute to recovery of local businesses," her submission said.
Dr Kotvojs made the joint submission to the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements with her husband Alan Burdon more than a month before she was pre-selected as the Liberals' candidate.
In it, the long-serving NSW Rural Fire Service volunteer - who stayed to defend her own home in Dignams Creek when fires swept through earlier this year - hit out at the National Parks Service for failing to reduce fuel loads more in the lead-up to summer.
She said while "we recognise that implementing hazard reduction does not prevent bushfires occurring", it could limit loss of life and property.
"There seems to be an attitude among some in the National Park Service that National Parks should be set aside and left untouched. Visitors are not encouraged to use them and the concept of hazard reduction burns is almost an anathema," Dr Kotvojs said.
Dr Kotvojs also said complaints from community members made agencies "less enthused" about conducting backburning.
"There is a perception amongst many in the community that hazard reduction or thinning forests through other means has negative environmental outcomes. It is seen by many as something that damages the forest. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth," Dr Kotvojs said.
"The high energy bushfires that ravage forests, scorching to an extent that vegetation does not grow back for many years, and moving at a pace that does not enable fauna to escape are far more damaging.
"Hazard reduction operations also produce smoke. Many community members complained to relevant authorities about this smoke. This results in these agencies being less enthused about conducting such hazard reduction operations.
"As RFS volunteers, we have been verbally abused by members of the community when conducting hazard reduction operations. This abuse is because of both the smoke produced and perceived damage such fires cause to the environment. This abuse does not make the volunteer job any easier."
And while part of the terms of reference for the royal commission includes investigating how the changing global climate affects Australia's ability to prevent, mitigate and response to bushfires, Dr Kotvojs argued fire was caused by three factors - fuel, oxygen and heat - and fuel was the only one that could be controlled.
Labor has previously accused Dr Kotvojs of downplaying climate change.
Labor's climate change spokesman Mark Butler has repeatedly attacked Dr Kotvojs over comments she made claiming that "climate change is something that has always occurred and it will always continue to occur".
"Make no mistake Fiona Kotvojs, the Liberal Party candidate for Eden-Monaro, is a climate change sceptic," Mr Butler tweeted on Monday.
However Dr Kotvojs told media at her pre-selection announcement that she believed that humans were contributing to global warming.
"I believe that the climate is changing, I believe that humans contribute to that change in climate and I believe that we need to have a reduction in emissions," Dr Kotvojs said.
