| NCC was proud to present its Sixth Bushfire Conference: Bushfire in a Heating World 31st May & 1st June 2007Sydney |
Thank you to all speakers, staff, volunteers, delegates and sponsors who made this
conference the huge success it was. It was a stimulating two days with not only brilliant presentations but also many excellent questions from the floor and lots of interesting discussion.
 |  |  | View photos from
Bushfire in a Heating World
| Download the
attendance list
| View 2007
Conference Proceedings
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Papers and presentations from the conference will be posted on this website as they become available. Proceedings will be published on this website and on CD in mid August.
Comments from the Speakers
"A recurring call during the 2007 conference was for explicit focus on the
policy processes that surround bushfire management - the politics,
decision-making and importantly, the integration of science into management
and policy. For bushfire fighters, the science is only as good as it can be
translated into practical on-the-ground management. This challenge should be
the theme of the 2008 NCC bushfire conference."
- Dr Rosalie Chapple
"As a speaker, I thought the conference was very well organised and ran
very smoothly. A good conference is always measured by the quality of
the catering and the quality of the speakers, and I think the NCC
conference scored top marks in both.
I think the Andy Pitman presentation on global warming impacts set the
scene. It's the same message that the Australian Greenhouse Office is
spreading around the country. No one seems to be listening. I think the
conference succeeded in bringing global warming awareness to a much
wider audience.
As the Local Government speaker said, our reaction to global warming
will require a quantum leap in the application of human intelligence
equivalent to going from the stone age to the iron age. I was therefore
disappointed in the Agency responses to global warming - "yes we agree
global warming is a reality, but really its business as usual until
there's a crisis". I think creating 50 metre firebreaks and issuing blue
overalls to people living on the urban/bushland interface is not an
effective global warming response.
The climatic averages that our fire management policies are based on are
now an artefact of the past. The Canberra fires of January 2003 are now
a reality of the future. As one of the summary session speakers said,
global warming will require dramatic responses from all levels of
government, and dramatic changes in policy and strategy, to cope. I
think we will need new planning laws and regulations to keep assets away
from fuels. I think we will need to fund new ways of fighting fires. I
think we will need more burning in our forests to reduce the impacts of
summer fires. Unfortunately, I think we will have to experience a few
more fires of the magnitude and impact of Canberra January 2003 before
these changes will be made. "
- Greg Watts
Bushfire Program Co-ordinator: Adrian Davis
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