The Rev Fred Nile, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, has claimed in State Parliament that policies forced upon Victorian residents by Green groups, contributed to the loss of life during the horrific fires of February 2009.

“New South Wales must learn the lessons from Victoria's tragic bushfires. We have all been shocked by the unusual and exceptionally high death toll as a result of the horrific Victorian bushfires. The loss of life has reached 210, with about 30 persons still missing. Our prayers and our compassion go to all those families who have lost loved ones in the Victorian bushfires.

The national Day of Mourning was very moving, especially the national service in Melbourne, and will help to encourage all survivors. A royal commission has now been established to investigate the fire, particularly the causes of the high death toll. Factors being canvassed include the policy of "stay and defend your home"—but how do people combat a huge fireball that consumes all in its path? Another factor is the insidious Greens party influence in Victoria in State and local governments, which has restricted the historic regular back-burning that clears the build-up of bushfire fuel”, stated Rev Fred Nile

“The Greens are blaming so-called global warming and climate change. Yet they ignore events such as the huge Black Thursday fire on 6 February 1851, when Melbourne's temperature reached 47 degrees Celsius—the same temperature as occurred on Saturday 7 February 2009. In 1851 bushfires destroyed 10 times the area that was destroyed this year, while at the same time London was being covered by some of the heaviest falls of snow ever experienced there. So much for global warming! I commend the strongly worded article by Miranda Devine in the Sydney Morning Herald on 12 February 2009 that Greens' ideas must take the blame for bushfires. She stated that it was not climate change that killed 210 people in Victoria, and continued:

It wasn't arsonists. It was the unstoppable intensity of a bushfire, turbo-charged by huge quantities of ground fuel which had been allowed to accumulate over years of drought. It was the power of green ideology over government to oppose attempts to reduce fuel hazards before a megafire erupts, and which prevents landholders from clearing vegetation to protect themselves.

Ms Devine went on to say:

Governments appeasing the green beast have ignored numerous state and federal bushfire inquiries over the past decade, almost all of which have recommended increasing the practice of "prescribed burning". Also known as "hazard reduction", it is a methodical regime of burning off flammable ground cover in cooler months, in a controlled fashion, so it does not fuel the inevitable summer bushfires.

There have been a number of inquiries at which experienced people involved in the forest industry have issued warnings. In July 2007 Scott Gentle, the Victorian manager of Timber Communities Australia, who lives in Healesville—one of the towns affected by the recent bushfires—gave testimony, which was almost prophetic, to a Victorian parliamentary bushfire inquiry. He said:

Living in an area like Healesville, whether because of dumb luck or whatever, we have not experienced a fire … since … about 1963. God help us if we ever do, because it will make Ash Wednesday look like a picnic."

As Ms Devine said, "God help him, he was right." He uttered those words two years before the Victorian bushfires we have just witnessed. Mr Gentle "complained of obstruction from Green local government authorities of any type of fire mitigation strategies." He told of Green interference at Kinglake—which was at the epicentre of Saturday's disaster, where more than 150 people died—during a smaller fire in 2007. He said that contractors were working and were stopped by representatives. They were trying to put in containment lines but were not allowed to proceed. He said "locking up forests is just not working". Similar things happened in the Kinglake area, where restrictions were placed on clearing. In some places residents were required to plant native trees around their homes, which aided the destruction of small country towns. We must learn lessons from the Victorian bushfires”, Rev Nile said.

For Media Interviews contact: Rev Fred Nile (02) 9230 2478 or 0418 619 731
Research Assistant: David Copeland (02) 9230 2978

 Christian Democratic Party, GPO Box 141, Sydney NSW 2001.
Email: admin@cdp.org.au Web: www.cdp.org.au  Tel: 1300 667 975