Scott Morrison to announce royal commission into bushfires
A royal commission into the summer's horror bushfire season will be announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison later on Thursday.
The devastating bushfires will be examined by a royal commission.Credit:Nick Moir
Earlier this month Mr Morrison said he had selected former chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshall Mark Binskin, to lead an inquiry should it go ahead.
Mr Morrison wrote to the states in February asking for their cooperation with a royal commission.
At the time Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews stopped short of endorsing a royal commission, noting his state was required by law to hold a review after each fire season.
The NSW government announced in January it would hold a six-month inquiry into the causes, preparation and response of the bushfires.
Experts have previously said any reviews of this summer's bushfires must include climate change and its effect on fire risks.
Professor Ross Bradstock, the director of Wollongong University's Centre for Environmental Risk Management, said none of the previous 51 bushfire inquiries held since 1939 had investigated the effect of global warming fire risk, including the 2009 Black Saturday Royal Commission, which also "did not explicitly consider climate change".
Mr Morrison has acknowledged that climate change increases bushfire risks, and said any reviews of this summer should focus on an audit of recommendations from previous bushfire inquiries.
Governments would "need to make some decisions" about local hazard reduction burning to reduce fuel loads in forests, building codes for fire prone areas, and regulations for clearing native vegetation, Mr Morrison told the National Press Club.
Mr Brodstock said a royal commission should not be limited to an auditing role, but be guided by an independent expert taskforce to "forensically analyse" the disaster, including the role of climate change, the cost-effectiveness of fire-prevention techniques, adequacy of the volunteer firefighting force, potential new funding models and a "whole raft of other questions".
More to come.