Safety in numbers: As a horror fire season looms, firefighters are struggling to attract new volunteers – SMH 15/11/19
It’s a similar line to that pushed by Nationals Leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro in Parliament on Wednesday, as he lit the fuse on a brawl over staffing levels inside the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Barilaro implied that the NPWS had not done enough to reduce fuel loads in the bush, prompting a counter-attack from the Public Service Association which said the organisation had been gutted of its most experienced fire management personnel in a restructuring ordered by the Coalition government two years ago.
Environment Minister Matt Kean entered the ring too, with a barb seemingly aimed at his cabinet colleague: “I’m not going to have the NPWS being made scapegoats in this bushfire season.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/safety-in-numbers-as-a-horror-fire-season-looms-firefighters-are-struggling-to-attract-new-volunteers-20191115-p53avi.html