The asteroid countdown is on.
Natural disaster
DNA testing is dragging out the agony for fire victims
It would seem that there are a lot of families suffering unnecessarily in the service of the (remote) possibility of making one mistake, writes Lynette Turney.
Insurance industry uses dubious fire stats to get its own way
The misleading use of figures by the Insurance Council is primarily driven by their ongoing campaign against the fire services levy in place in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, write Denis Nelthorpe and Fiona Guthrie.
Victorian bushfires: Australian spirit present
I was also in Marysville that Saturday afternoon. How different my impressions were to Peter Chamber’s, writes Julie Bell.
Victorian bushfires: disregard demagogues, ecogogues and celebrity dilettantes
Black Saturday’s firestorm generated a propaganda wordstorm. Ideology masqueraded as analysis. Each faction claimed to speak for the dead but spruiked their own agenda, writes Frank Campbell.
Salvos stiff the s-x lobby’s hard-earned
The Salvos have rejected a bushfire donation from the s-x industry, but this hasn’t stopped them setting up stalls at S-xpo, Andrew Crook reports.
The bushfires, the pain, the climate change
We were warned. Over and over again scientists told us of the increased danger of bushfires fueled by severe, protracted drought and record-breaking heat waves, writes Liz Conor.
I survived Marysville for an orgy of ocker self-love
My emotions, and the way I’ve been talking about them in order to deal with them, have been hijacked by the emotions of “the nation” and its faithful organ, the press, writes Peter Chambers.
Victorian bushfires: disaster p-rn and story telling
The Victorian bushfires could be an opportunity for new relationships between media and public. Instead, the worst of the coverage has been formulaic, writes Margaret Simons.
In support of controlled burns at Wilson’s Prom
The question is not if there will be another fire at the Prom, but when, writes Don Jewell.
Don’t blame the greenies, blame the lack of bunkers
The flames of culture wars are burning fiercely over Black Saturday, writes Ben Sandilands.
Apocalypse Now lesson for bushfire survival
Lives could have been saved in last Saturday’s fire storms if simple guidance had been broadcast over areas where people had no information, writes Ben Sandlilands.
How fire refuges became a thing of the past
Once considered a practical, even obvious approach to bushfire safety, the provision of designated Fire Refuges in at-risk communities has fallen out of favour, writes Chris Paver.
The Australian’s fuel reduction obsession
With the embers still burning, The Australian’s obsessive, one-sided attempt to paint the fires as basically down to evil greenies continues apace, writes Guy Rundle.
Gawenda: journalists move on, disaster remains
Media not only covers an event like the Victorian fires, but in a sense, creates and defines it as well, writes Michael Gawenda.
Parks Victoria uses the fire crisis to light up the Prom again
Why is it that Parks Victoria and DSE get away with taking every opportunity to light fires in National Parks and stir local sentiment for more and more fires? asks Lionel Elmore.
Tips from a bushfire survivor
Canberra firestorm survivor Liz Tilley writes, I just can’t bear to see those victims in Victoria not benefit from what we learned in Canberra. So, for what it’s worth, here are my tips for a “great” relief.
Too soon to jump one way or another on fuel reduction
The extensive records of what burned and what did not, what burned quickly and what did not will provide invaluable information for future vegetation management of communities living in the bush, writes Lionel Elmore.
Twitter: enabling the new global rubberneckers
We can watch as much bushfire disaster p-rn as we want without stirring from home, writes Stilgherrian.
Rundle: What has Black Saturday taught us?
Without surrendering the notion that we can dramatically improve our reaction to fire, a little circumspection about easy answers might be the least we owe to the dead, writes Guy Rundle.
The (overcrowded) grassy knoll on the Vic bushfires
As the fires still rage, the body count mounts, and most media outlets discuss the merits of Australia’s “stay or go” fire strategy, a select few commentators (read: loonies) are actually seriously discussing the possibility of “forest jihad”…
Stay or go policy under scrutiny
The Royal Commission into Victoria’s ongoing bushfires will intensify scrutiny of the controversial “prepare, stay and defend” policy, writes Chris Paver.
Tragedy brings the best out of Parliament
It’s a shame such a vast tragedy was required to bring out the best in our parliamentarians, but it did, writes Bernard Keane.
Hurricane Ike: a Crikey wrap
Hurricane Ike surely beats Gustav hands down.
Hurricane Gustav: a Crikey wrap
Nearly 2 million Louisiana residents flee as Hurricane Gustav lessens to category 2 — not that Michael Moore cares…
