“NSW’s park rangers and others who work in land management are conservationists – which means they are the last people who want to see out of control bushfires. They are on the frontline of climate change and they need to be properly resourced to be able to manage the land and minimise the growing fire risk.

“The only ideology preventing real bushfire preparation and action is the Coalition’s internal war over climate change.

“Because of this opposition to environmental protection, our members in national parks and other land management roles have been consistently under funded and restructured to a point it makes their jobs completely impossible.

“We now have the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull asking where the federal preparation was. Where was the commonwealth oversight forcing the states to properly fund their land management?

“This is why we need a Federal Royal Commission that will examine the preparedness of authorities and going forward recommend a mandatory funding mechanism to avoid the crippling of vital environmental services. Proper land management in national parks ultimately keeps the communitiy safer.

“The Royal Commission must examine what impact the 35 percent cut to fire-trained positions in National Parks has had on the ability to prepare NSW’s for fires. The loss of expertise is irreplaceable – area managers with a combined experience of centuries have left roles and not been replaced.

“It must ask why, apart from last financial year, National Parks haven’t been able to reach its annual hazard reduction target since 2016? Is it because there are not the boots on the ground to do the work?

“It’s not just hazard reduction, money set aside for upgrading fire trails hadn’t been spent and the work has not been done.

“Hazard reduction, fire trails maintenance, all of this takes place over years, not a single season. It means that this problem has been compounded.”

Further comment: Stewart Little 0434 062 079
Media inquiries: Suze Metherell 0412 867 084

BACKGROUND:
In 2011 there were 289 ranger, of which 28 were senior rangers. In 2018 there are no longer any senior rangers, and only 193 rangers. These are the gov’s own numbers from annual reports. They have stopped reporting ranger numbers of late, but even so, by the Government’s own figures, stated on record in Parliament put the total number of fire trained staff in NPWS in July of 2019 at just 1040, down from 1060 in July 2017.

Another thing to understand about the significance of restructure is that previously there were 36 NPWS regions, overseen by 50 area managers responsible for drawing up maps and planning hazard reduction burns. Regions have been reduced to eight branches overseen by 37 area managers.

The massive “Future Parks” restructure in 2017/2018 was driven by a need to find $121 million in savings due to budget cuts. It saw 778 NPWS jobs altered, downgraded, moved or deleted. It affected Senior Rangers, Area Managers, Project Officers, administrative staff and Field Officers, and resulted in a significant loss of expertise.