...

McKay said the fire agencies “are facing” cuts, so Fact Check has assessed her claim on the basis of the current financial year, 2019-20.

A spokesman for McKay also told Fact Check via email that the $40 million figure came from the latest budget and related to recurrent expenditure for the current year.

Usually delivered in June, the state budget contains initial estimates for the approaching financial year. It also contains both initial and “revised” estimates for the year before.

John Wanna, a professor of public administration with Australian National University, told Fact Check that budgets reflect what governments intend to do, but there was “always variation” between this and the end-of-year figures.

David Hayward an emeritus professor at RMIT University, said initial and revised estimates were not a like-for-like comparison, so “until that final number comes in you just can’t make a call” on whether there had been cuts.

Read more:

https://www.crikey.com.au/2019/12/10/nsw-firefighting-budget-fact-check/

 

Whether there is a real increase in the firefighting budget or cuts, the main figure to look at is the following diagram that should have seen a massive injection of funds into firefighting from both NSW and Federal governments.

"Spring 2019 saw the highest fire weather danger as measured by the Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI), with record-high values observed in areas of all states and territories," the report stated. 

The FFDI takes into account recent rainfall, a drought index, relative humidity, air temperature and wind speed to give a value that reflects how dangerous a fire is expected to be once it gets going. 

It's what you see represented on the roadside fire danger signs: low, high, very high, extreme, catastrophic (code red in Victoria). 

"More than 95 per cent of Australia by area had spring-accumulated FFDI values that were very much above average (highest 10 per cent of years), including almost 60 per cent of the country that was highest on record for spring," the report stated.

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-18/bushfires-burn-area-bigger-than-w...

 

Crikey should ask for more funds urgently rather than argue about the budget fiddles which show a massive budget cut for next year:

 

budget on fire

 

 

 

 

As Fact Check has pointed out — frequently — the so-called "emissions deficit" referred to by the Coalition was taken from an October 2012 report, and merely represented a forecast of the greenhouse gas emission reductions needed to hit Australia's 2020 target at that time.

Soon after the Coalition came to office, in a report released in December 2013 which superseded the 2012 report, it became apparent that emissions under Labor's carbon tax had been lower than expected.

Government officials also for the first time factored in a significant "carryover" from the overachievement of the first Kyoto target, covering the period 2008 to 2012.

Since then, emissions have been lower than anticipated as a result of high power prices, the states' adoption of renewable energy and the closure of coal-fired power stations, including Victoria's Hazelwood plant — all of which had little to do with "hard work" by the Coalition.

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-19/fact-check-year-ender-2019-angus-...

 

The city as seen from Balmain, today (19/12/19). Picture Gus Leonisky. One can barely see the city beyond the tall apartment buildings in the fore-background.

 

 

Michael McCormack, who is the acting Prime Minister while Scott Morrison is on holidays, dropped into RFS HQ in Sydney. 
 The Nationals leader praised the work of volunteers and career firefighters and said the bushfires had been "devastating".

 “This is a tragic situation. There have been six lives lost and more than 790 homes destroyed. There are 790 people who will not be at their table this Christmas and our thoughts go out to them.” 

Mr McCormack described this week’s fire situation as “disastrous” and said he was hoping a cooler wind change forecast for later in the day would bring some reprieve.


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-19/nsw-bushfires-sydney-smoke-and-he...

----------------

It's time to act at preventing more global warming. No ifs and buts. NOW, yesterday in 1996 would have been better, but NOW will do.




Thoughts and prayers aren't good enough... 

Read from top.
Meanwhile the idiots of the government are sillier than empty buckets to fill a hole...:

NSW fires: acting PM Michael McCormack tells climate protesters 'you are wasting your time' – live

All of New South Wales, South Australia, large parts of Queensland, and northern Victoria have been placed under a total fire ban on Thursday with extreme weather forecast. Follow the latest bushfires news and updates

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2019/dec/19/nsw-and-qld-...

Two New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteers have died and three other firefighters are injured after their truck rolled in Sydney's south-west.

Key points:

• The truck was travelling in convoy, near the Green Wattle Creek fire at Buxton
• The driver and front passenger died at the scene, three other passengers were injured
• Conditions are set to ease on Friday, giving crews a chance to assess the number of properties lost on Thursday

 

Authorities said the truck was travelling as part of a convoy when it is believed to have hit a tree on Wilson Drive in Buxton, before rolling off the road about 11:30pm.

The driver and front passenger both died at the scene.

Three other passengers were injured and treated at the scene by paramedics.

The scene is on the front line of the Green Wattle Creek fire, one of two bushfires still burning at emergency level through Thursday night.

A crime scene has been established, and an investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding the crash.

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-20/two-volunteer-firefighrers-dead-a...

 

The MAJOR crime here is that Scumdungdogson went on holiday in a secret location, while offering "thoughts and prayers", AND doing bugger all to HELP SOLVE GLOBAL WARMING. 

 

See also:

Scomo goes to Hawaii …

 

https://www.captiongenerator.com/1610342/Scomo-Goes-to-Hawaii?

Scott Morrison has accused The Project of twisting the facts with now-viral footage of a rural fire service volunteer called Jacqui, who bluntly told him, ‘you’re not my prime minister”, while shaking his hand.

Stung by the criticism online he had been ‘slayed’ by retiree Jacqui in what looked like a smiling-assassin takedown at the Mudgee evacuation centre, the Prime Minister took to social media on Tuesday to declare she was, in fact, British.

It all came after Mr Morrison was introduced to a woman named Jacqui on Monday.

“This is the Prime Minister,” the member for Calare, Andrew Gee, told her.

“He’s not my prime minister,” Jacqui quipped as she continued to shake the PM’s hand.

 

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/2019/12/24/jacqui-pm-scott-morr...

 

Yes Jacqui is BRITISH and her PM is Boris... But Scumnodayjobson isn't the PM for a lot of Aussies either, those who, like me, know global warming is a major issue. THE MAJOR ISSUE. We cannot accept that he won the ski lodge...