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Fires destroy scores of homes in Tathra because we don’t have enough solar panels

Terrible fires destroyed 69 houses and 30 caravans and another 39 houses were damaged in Tathra in SE Australia last Sunday.

Greens Chieftain, Richard Di Natale, waited at least two minutes before exploiting their pain to make advertisements for the Green Industrial Complex:

Government’s climate stance ‘like NRA’s on guns after a massacre’

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has controversially likened the government’s refusal to recognise climate change as a cause of the southern NSW bushfires to the National Rifle Association’s failure to acknowledge the role of gun laws in preventing mass shootings in the US.

Asked what the government could do about a global problem when Australia accounted for just 1.3 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, Senator Di Natale said the risk of extreme weather events could be mitigated if the nation transitioned “away from coal”.

“We have to stop the Adani mine from being built. We have to recognise that coal doesn’t have a long-term future. We need to ensure that we take advantage of the huge jobs* that come with building more solar farms, more wind farms,” he said.

According to the Greens, fires are mostly a one variable event. More CO2 means more fires and fires can be prevented if we buy enough solar panels and Tesla batteries. The issue is not fuel loads, fallen power lines, or houses built close together and close to tons of tall flammable carbon forms with leaves. The damage toll is not affected greatly by turf battles, a lack of communication, poor mobile reception or decisions to say “No thanks” to extra fire trucks.

If only we converted the whole country to solar panels, no building would ever burn through bushfire — (only through solar malfunction. Like BeaverCreek Walmart, last week).

The Rural Fire Service thinks differently —  blames power lines for fires:

Power lines were the likely cause of the devastating bushfire that swept through the small town of Tathra on the New South Wales south coast on Sunday, a preliminary investigation has found. The investigation by the Rural Fire Service has found “electrical infrastructure on Reedy Swamp Road” as the likely cause.

Those power lines are managed by Capitalist Pigs... the NSW government.

… the Electrical Trades Union said there were “serious questions to answer” over cuts to funding for power line maintenance in the state.

The union alleged that, over the last seven years, Essential Energy had sacked almost 40% of its workforce, underspent on its operating expenditure by $129m and slashed capital expenditure by 38% since 2012 due to restrictions imposed by the Australian Energy Regulator.

So rules made by one government agency caused problems for another government agency:

The ETU’s NSW assistant secretary, Justin Page, said the funding cuts “may be placing the public at serious risk”. “The NSW government has been focused on cutting costs at Essential Energy, including slashing maintenance and capital works expenditure, while at the same time maximising profit,” he said.

Maximizing profit?

Government agency, Capitalist pig, what’s the difference?

Companies that compete make profits. Agencies with a government monopoly collect taxes.

Meanwhile the guys paid to fight fires blame a lack of backburning in the area:

“The bushes here haven’t been burnt off for that many years (and) there was that much energy and force in it that once it started, you couldn’t stop it.

“I think there should be a lot more backburning happening, which we’ve been fighting for and we can’t get it because of the new laws – it’s ridiculous.”

… and the turf war:

The Fire Brigade Employees Union claimed many of the 69 houses lost in the fire could have been saved if offers of assistance from metropolitan fire brigades weren’t rejected by the Rural Fire Service.

Our thoughts are with those who have lost so much.

*Let’s talk about the “huge jobs” generated by wind and solar, and let’s also talk about the even bigger job losses that go with that. For every Green job created, between two and five other real jobs, that did something useful, are lost. But that’s only data from Spain, Italy, Britain, and Germany.

** Guns laws? Not so simple either: States with more guns don’t have more gun-murders. See also JustFacts for interesting graphs and Bill Whittle on “per capita murder rates”.

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