The Habitat Advocate

In urban metros, cities and towns across Australia a call to Triple Zero (000) in the event of a fire emergency, will trigger reliable response quickly by the state government’s professional fire-fighting service – all professionally trained, equipped, resourced and paid.

In Victoria, this professional fire fighting force does not exist outside Melbourne

Outside urban Australia, it’s a different case of locals phoning an unpaid under-resourced Dad’s Army which directs the call to a pager.  The Triple 000 emergency response standard is denied. Rural Australians are second class citizens when it comes to government response in emergencies – fire, ambulance, police.  This is traditionally and persisted perpetually. 

So outside urban Australia, Australians are treated by government differently – like second class citizens.

Locals throughout non-urban Australia often end up joining the local volunteer fire brigade (CFA, RFS, CFS, whatever) because there is no paid fire brigade within coo-ee; more likely to the nearest regional big town. 

It’s called ‘Do It Yourself’ emergency response.

State governments require that if any fire fighting service is to be provided to a rural community that the immediate local residents must come forward and do the job of their urban professionals.  The professional fire fighting training, equipment, and resourcing is all the same – non existent. 

Rural Australia is grossly under-resourced in fire fighting prevention, mitigation, ignition detection and suppression response.   Farmers and rural folk wisely advise incoming tree changers that they ought fast abandon their urban ‘000’ response’ expectations upon arrival in rural Australia, and become D.I.Y. rural  fire volunteer unpaid members.  Else when the state governments’ PR instructions are to abandon your family home and a lifetime’s values, you surrender to refugee status and so beholded to CentreLink discretion as cup-in-hand pensioners.

Non urban Australians may as well dial ’00’ instead of ‘000’.  Dialing ’00’ will only deliver the same response as being…’not connected’, “not bothered”, “tell someone in government who cares”.  Expect a disconnected phone signal.

One of the decimated native regions of Australia abandoned to fend for themselves in the wake of an impending firefront, known to be imminent for weeks was Victoria’s East Gippsland.  In mid December 2019, no attempt was made by the Victorian Government to detect, respond or quell the Snowy River National Park wildfire 20km west of the remote hamlet of Goongerah, 68km north of the town of Orbost in East Gippsland.

By December 30, 2019 rural locals were told to evacuate and abandoned their homes and lives, else D.I.Y. fend for themselves.

Here is one example of isolated rural Australians left in an wildfire emergency to D.I.Y.  defend.

A week later, no one in government or media could care a shit about this isolated rural community’s survival or welfare.

A Rural Reality:  https://www.goongerahsurvives.net/