Originally Posted by
currawong
"For ScoMo to say "Bushfires are a state issue" shows how little concept he has"
That is not his opinion, it is in fact the law.
That could be changed, with legislation. Good luck getting that through by this time tomorrow....
It isn't about getting it through tonight, or tomorrow, it is about getting it through
at all! We lost
173 Citizens a decade ago, and we are straight back onto the hamster wheel.
Defence is a national issue. As is currency and welfare, yet health and fire suppression? Nope, upto the states to go it alone, and good luck with that...
Originally Posted by currawong
As it stands the Feds throw money at the States to contribute to the procurement of aerial assets.
Not enough to buy their own. NSW has only just now bought
one 737. One. Yes they lease other assets as the need arises, but that is because it is a
State issue, not a national one. The most numerous aircraft in the aerial firefighting fleet is the venerable Air Tractor.
We have two Hercs, 1 737 and 3 RJ85's, according to the
NAFC, though that was only current as at last years fire season. ISTR we have a DC-10 this year as well. More are on the way (now, after a business case lodged 18 months ago by recent reports) and may be here for
this season, yes, but 6(7?) "heavy" fixed-wing bombers are not sufficient for a country this size. We need our own fleet, crewed by our own people ready to go, we cannot continually rely on overseas assets, particularly when we do have the resources to take care of things ourselves, if not the political will.