Australia must ‘step up’ fleet of air tankers for fire season



Emergency Management Minister Jenny McAllister says Australia needs to “step up” the volume and availability of water-bombing aircraft for tackling bushfire season.

At least five people are dead and 180,000 people have been ordered to evacuate as out-of-control wildfires leave trails of destruction across Los Angeles.

“That’s why we have made the investments we have,” Ms McAllister told Sky News Australia.

“We did so on the advice of the fire chiefs and we constantly work with them to ensure that we are securing the kind of assets that are appropriate for the conditions that present at the time.”

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32 thoughts on “Australia must ‘step up’ fleet of air tankers for fire season”

  1. Spending your peoples important tax money on non important things other the public safety you will have a LA moment. The public will all turn their eyes on to those elected officials.

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  2. It is better to invest in air tankers as a safety precaution than to buy expensive weapons to fight an imaginary war that the military hawks come up with.
    Look at the LA fire.
    The world is undergoing a climate change and some areas of weakness may be exposed.
    Government should heed the warnings before shhheet happens.
    Australia look vulnerable as there are a lot of dry areas with dwellings and communities.
    Brains are needed to look into these in the aftermath of the LA fire.

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  3. Just cut wide fire breaks – around country towns – and around houses near the bush – would be a very good basic start. The fact there are no wide firebreaks around national parks – there are no dams in national parks – for water for fire fighting.

    Means – lying labor – has done nothing. And if you wonder why house insurance premiums are so high. The loss of housing rebuilds – comes from the private insurance industry. And more losses – means higher premiums. As more houses are lost that need to be replaced. And labor don't care – if you can't afford your insurance premiums. They just blame climate change.

    It's because labor wont build – flood diversion dams. They wont – cut large fire breaks – around national parks – towns – and houses near the bush. Put water dams inside national parks – for fire fighting. Why would you do those things. When labor has no intention of ever doing those things. You just blame it all on the climate change lie. When a natural disaster unfolds. Labor is all over the media – controlling the NARRATIVE. That's when you know they don't care. It's what LABOR thinks – is all they care about. And they shift the blame.

    AS NO-ONE WANTS TO ASK LABOR WHY. WE HAVE SPENT HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS – ON SOLAR PANELS – WIND TURBINES – SOLAR BATTERIES – AND ELECTRIC CARS.

    AND THE TEMPERATURES HAVE NOT DROPPED – LIKE LABORS BALLS. AND IT IS NOT RAINING MORE. BECAUSE LABOR SAID IT'S GOING TO PLAY GOD – AND LOWER GLOBAL TEMPERATURES. SORRY TO SAY IT FOLKS – LABOR LIED – AGAIN.

    THIS IS ALL PART OF THE GLOBAL LEFT WING – PLAY BOOK. So – folks – labor lie to you every day – and don't have a care in the world about doing that – to you.

    What NO-ONE IS THINKING. IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD – HOME OWNERS INSURANCE. DOES YOUR HOME LENDER STEP IN AND FORE CLOSE ON YOUR HOME LOAN.

    THIS IS A HUGE POLITICAL FOOTBALL.

    AND THE PREMIUMS ARE DRIVEN BY TWO THINGS.

    1. THE FEAR OF CLIMATE CHANGE – IS IN THE MEDIA EVERY DAY – DRIVEN BY THE LEFT WING MEDIA.

    2. LABOR AND TELLING EVERYONE – EVERY NATURAL DISASTER – IS THE FAULT OF CLIMATE CHANGE.

    This is a HUGE political problem.

    1. That has been caused by politicians and the left wing media in Australia.

    2. They refuse to take – the steps to mitigate natural disasters.

    Labor and the greens and the left media – are the ones – why your can't afford – your home insurance. All sides are playing games. And labor and the greens refuse – to talk about reducing the cost of home owners insurance.

    Like how they keep forcing up the cost of living – the cost of food – electricity – and fuel for your car. Labor is the one – who does not care – about what anything costs. As they have no idea – what they are even doing.

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  4. Commonwealth Constitution Act 1900 UK Sec 100 ss 149 states:

    The Commonwealth shall not by any law or regulation of trade or commerce abridge the right of a state or of the residents to the reasonable use of waters of rivers for conservation or irrigation.
    It clearly states water can’t be separated from the Land (bought or traded) yet farmers are denied basic water needs to sustain their livestock.

    Yet again our politicians bypassed our Constitution when in 2007 under the RAMSAR (wetlands conservation) convention in the Howard/Anderson era that bought in the 2007 Water Act that stole power away from the states and allowed foreign owners mainly from Canada, USA, China and UK to buy around 11.3 of our water entitlements issued in Australia.

    Cubby Station cotton farm is full of water some 12,800 mega litres equivalent to 25.6 Sydney Harbours, while sucking the dry the river systems down south like the Darling River.

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  5. All fires start small and grow. They need immediate suppression before they grow, no matter if on private or public/parks land the old let it burn is no longer fit for purpose. Perhaps closer communication between firewatchers and suppression aircraft would help faster reactions to begin with.

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  6. Christ, I hate it when Ministers from southern states talk about "peak fire season" in summer. Yes, it is – IN THE SOUTH!! Up here in Qld, NT, & top 1/2 of WA, the season is late autumn to early spring. It's like these morons don't get the concept of climate patterns varying over latitudes ……..
    Secondly, we have a RAAF Reserve – buy a dozen extra Hercs (no bells & whistles, just an empty flying airframe) & let the RAAF maintain them & fit them out with a modular firefighting "kit" that can be rolled onboard when they're needed – the Reserve could actually fly aircraft, like the US Air National Guard. But of course, if we did something sensible like that, then state politicians wouldn't get their kickback from the "successful bidder" when they issue the tender for aerial firefighting services, would they? ……….

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  7. I can't understand why the Air Force doesn't use its C130s and C27s for this purpose. Every year Australia has to lease aircraft from overseas when we should have our own. They could be used for hauling equipment to mines and other remote areas in the off-season. We should have this capability. Forest management should also be a top priority for both State and federal governments. Stop locking up the forests. Log them, clear the undergrowth, and maintain and improve the fire tracks. Don't woke up, wake up.

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  8. funny how they are happy to waste (launder) millions on climate action organisations.
    when one thing that the Climate crisis will bring is more bush fires, yet, they dont seem to spend any money on trucks, planes or fire fighters.
    52000 volunteer CFA firefighters in Victoria alone.

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  9. Sorry , renewables take precedence over Australia burning to the ground. Prior to the 2019 bushfires climate activists and greens went on a prolong campaign of assuring Australians that australia would burn 🔥
    Mere coincidence?

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  10. You cannot have aircraft sitting around doing nothing. That the reason they barely stop for a day because they cost so much as does the maintenance. Far more appropriate is sharing them and moving them when needed.

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  11. Was it 4 or 5 C130's our gov gifted to indo? …..that was big of them. They should have been modified into water mega bombers. Crazy idea? …..time is well and truly over due for thinking outside the box when it comes to wild fires in this country. ….so call me DJ Omniscient from this day forward please….volunteer bush fire fighter FESA ID No…1211oh why do i bother…

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  12. This is only 2025 – no individual nation will ever be able to stay ahead of the climate catastrophe’s coming in 2100.

    Your stocks won’t stop the fires and floods.

    What a waste of money burdening our children and grandchildren with these expenses due our elders gluttony.

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