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Greg Mullins, former NSW Fire Commissioner talks tough on bushfire response

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An RFS volunteer keeps a watch on bushfires threatening properties in Swan Bay, Port Stephens, October 3, 2007. Bushfires continue to burn around the townships of Medowie and Oyster Cove, high winds and plus thirty degree temperatures have hampered efforts to contain the blaze throughout the afternoon and evening.(Dean Lewins: AAP)

Former NSW Fire and Rescue Commissioner, Greg Mullins, has long been campaigning to get more resources for firefighters and has strong views on what governmental responses to the current bushfire crisis should be.

As communities across Australia continue to battle unprecedented bushfires, desperately trying to stop walls of flames tearing through entire towns, native bush and farmland, the debate over resourcing and the impact of climate change continues to bubble under the surface.

We've already seen many lives lost, over eleven hundred properties destroyed, state governments declaring states of emergency and thousands being evacuated from fire affected and threatened areas.

Predictions are for the fires to continue well into 2020 and the forecasters tell us that much needed rain is still months away.

In December, after weeks of insisting professional and volunteer firefighters had all the resources they need, Prime Minister Scott Morrison answered a call from the nation's fire chiefs and announced 11-million dollars in funding to go towards aerial firefighting efforts.

But many Australians are wondering why yet more is not being done.

Broadcast 
Disasters, Accidents and Emergency Incidents, Wildfires, Bushfires
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