Hot, Hot, Hot.

Jump to Comments

Having recently moved in to a teeny Tokyo tiny one bedroom studio apartment in Darlinghurst– my world– as is my preference– is now without a television. It was not until I returned back to Newcastle on Monday just passed that I became fully aware of the extent to which the Australian state of Victoria has been completely ravaged over the past weekend.

http://www.redcross.org.au

Old news now, of course, but pertinent still in some respects.

A powerful display of animal instinct was shown across my nation this last weekend past. I am always moved by images of koalas gulping water from the sea or kangarros en mas diving in to the ocean to escape the heat. Whether I’m living in Oz or elsewhere, these sorts of images always throw me. As do those of people whom have lost their homes.

My mothers house burned down when she was a young girl and as such, this sense of loss and devastation has always been firmly planted in my psyche. I don’t pretend to know what the loss of every single earthly belonging is like– though I do feel, for good reason– that I have a fair idea of how it must feel… perhaps more so than your common punter watching the news.

All of this aside, there have been some conspiracy theories arising over the past week regarding all the “deliberately lit” bush fires in Victoria and the timeliness of it all. I don’t know how you feel about this, or if anyone you know and/or care for was injured in anyway over the weekend, but… there are some that are arguing the whole ordeal might well have been avoided.

For example, the army and help from other states (and SAS troops, etc.) was not called upon until the final hour, though there had been observations and predictions of things turning pear-shaped well in advance. The army, some say, could have been asked on the very first day of the fires (C. Friday before last) to get water tanks from the cooler states down to Victoria pronto. The towns themselves could have performed preventative back burns as the temperatures soared (much like they do every year on the F3 dividing Newcastle and Sydney).

A large percentage of the fatalities were of people whom died in their vehicles trying to flee. Assumedly the evacuation bodies that be must not have secured roads– usually the main entry exit from towns is secured first, leaving the priority to be getting people out safely– In this instance that wasn’t the case. Odd.

I have it from a source also that police were on the ground doing photo ops. when one would think this would be a time to be negotiating and strategising, i.e. making shit happen.

All of this, quite curiously comes at a time of it comes at a time of very low employment, and hit hardest have been the towns where people are predominantly on some sort of Centerlink payment. The $0.5 a billion insurance companies now need to pay out will be used to stimulate employment. Those who are now homeless are left with nothing. People are going to have to buy everything, EVERYTHING, which in turn will stimulate cash flow for the economy, no?

I’m fairly certain myself that a lot of cash is now going to be sunk in to fire prevention and everyone will get lots of pats on the back.

All of this quite timely too in that over the past week many ‘unaffected’ citizens have began proferring their promised $950 from the Rudd government as a donation to those who have lost their homes and livlihoods over the weekend.

Whats happened is sad, devastating and horrific. Why it has happened is arguably criminal.

——————-

And Germaine, at the weekend, always pipping me at the gate:

www.smh.com.au/environment/australian-authorities-arsonists-germaine-greer-20090213-86h7.html

2 Comments

Filed under literary nonfiction