Bundarrah Days

TODAY was our National Day of Mourning for Black Saturday. It was a dignified and impressive service, I thought, and it brought Australians together in sorrow in a way that made everyone who saw it feel part of the occasion.

I was particularly touched by the Aboriginal contribution. It was a day that should not have dawned any differently to any normal day. It was an occasion we should never had have had to have.

Just as bad generals lose soldiers and wars bad government and bureaucracies lose citizens to needless tragedies. We can trace the tragedy of Black Saturday back to the premiership of Steve Bracks. Four times in six years Victoria has suffered major bushfires causing deaths and massive property and asset losses.

This is due to the mad green policies of the Bracks Government and the ignorance of its leader. Steve Bracks was, to put it mildly, the most stupid man ever to lead Victoria. Was there ever an issue he actually understood? It is John Brumby's sheer misfortune that this tragedy should take place on his watch because of all the Victorian ALP he was the one most likely to repair the damage caused by his predecessor.

We're still counting the cost of Black Saturday in human terms. 209 people confirmed dead, including many children, and many more to be be confirmed. Our family was contacted by the police again yesterday making sure we had escaped. Before long we will be counting the environmental cost.

Fires are still burning in Melbourne's water catchments and this is yet another tragedy in the making. Burnt forests not only affect water quality - as they regrow they absorb far more more water than mature forests adversely affecting water yield.

Some experts have forecast that a serious burning of Melbourne's catchments could mean a loss of up to 50 per cent in water yield. This in itself is disastrous. Melbourne is already stealing water from north-eastern Victoria.

As I write this the forecast for tomorrow has temperatures in the mid 30's with strong northerly winds. The fire danger is again critical. Around 4 million hectares of Victoria's forested country has now been burnt since 2003 so there is not much left to burn.

But what is left of our neglected forests will burn fiercely in the right conditions. Let hope that communities like Warburton escape the fate of Marysville, Kinglake, Flowerdale, Calignee, Narbethong and the rest.