SYDNEY, Jan 16 2019 – The scorched earth of the once fertile Snowy Mountains reveals the costly physical impact of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s climate inaction and lack of leadership.The New South Wales megafire, which measures 1.5 million acres, continues to burn on the outskirts of the small town of Tumbarumba in the Snowy Mountains.
“These catastrophic bushfires are driven by climate change, and are destroying lives, homes and choking people in our major cities,” said Dr Nikola Casule, Greenpeace Australia Pacific spokesperson.
“Australian families deserve better than the profound lack of leadership shown by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. We deserve swift and decisive action to address the climate crisis that is hurting so many Australian communities right now, starting with increased funding to our firefighting services, and a commitment to phasing out coal as the number one driver of climate change.”
“Scott Morrison needs to come clean with the Australian people, silence the denialists in his government and rapidly replace Australia’s ageing and unreliable coal-burning power stations with clean energy like wind and solar.”
Since the bushfires erupted in September, 29 Australians have lost their lives along with more than one billion animals, according to credible scientific estimates. [1]
More than 2000 homes have been destroyed across up to 17 million hectares of scorched earth.
The insurance bill is already estimated at A$995 million but the economic impact will likely surpass the $4.4 billion hit caused by the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.
Latest photos of the Snowy Mountains fires here
https://media.greenpeace.org/shoot/27MZIFJ8BPM6K
Notes
Contact
Greenpeace Australia Pacific Communications Campaigner Martin Zavan
+61424 295 422