NSW bushfires spread across entire coastline as homes lost in Qld fires

[Matilda]

"Thousands of firefighters across New South Wales and Queensland have had another long night battling dozens of fires, with conditions on Friday expected to worsen. NSW was told to expect wind gusts of 80km/h and high temperatures, and Queensland will likely see temperatures about 12C above average over the next two days, surpassing 40C in the Lockyer Valley and Ipswich."

(snip)

"Almost the entire coastal area of NSW and much of the state’s north-east have a severe fire danger rating for Friday.Total fire bans will be in place for the far south coast and the Monaro alpine, southern ranges, Illawarra-Shoalhaven, central ranges, greater Sydney, the greater Hunter, northern slopes and north-western regions.

"Meanwhile, the longest period of air pollution on record in NSW is set to continue with the Bureau of Meteorology saying heavy smoke from the bushfires ringing Sydney will linger in the city basin until Saturday.

"The smoke is being blown from large fires near Warragamba Dam and the Wollombi national park."

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/06/dozens-of-out-of-control-bushfires-burn-across-nsw-as-conditions-expected-to-worsen


And what is the government of Scott Morriscum doing? Nothing. Busy ripping our society to shreds - cutting the Department of the Environment (I'm not kidding), cutting the Department of the Arts while they're at it, cutting the aged pension, and cutting Newstart, the payment made to jobseekers, which hasn't been raised in 25 years and is already below poverty level. Now it will be cut further.

Morrison did visit one fire area two weeks ago, and told those who'd lost their homes that they had his thoughts and prayers. When the angry residents told him they didn't want thoughts and prayers, they wanted action, Morrison ran away and hid for a few days.

And what has our NSW Premier done? Nothing. She had already cut 35% of the firefighters' budget, and it hasn't been restored. And she's given developers permission over the past two years to cut down every tree they can see over hundreds of kilometres - the result being a massive loss of natural habitat for our wild creatures, notably the koalas, who are now rapidly approaching extinction point.

In Sydney, we've had a haze reminiscent of Beijing on a bad day for over two weeks now. During the day it's grey and you can't see very far, but in the evening, it has an orange glow. The setting sun is bright orange, and so hazy you can actually look at it. As the moon rises, it too is orange.

I do try not to hate people, but when it comes to the Liberal/National (Conservative) parties, I make an exception. Never have I known such a corrupt government; while the east coast burns, they sit there counting their donations from business and ripping the social fabric of our society to shreds. It's so hard to understand their complete lack of concern for what is happening to our country.

We are due to receive a group of firefighters from Canada this week, and a group from the U.S. a few days later. I'm sure that will be most welcome relief to our local firefighters, most of whom are volunteers and have been fighting for weeks now with no pay. They are true heroes.