Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) | Hansard source

During question time, the member for Eden-Monaro said that I impugned RFS firefighters. I did no such thing and never would. I was referring to the failures of national park management in the lead-up to the devastating 2003 fires in the Snowy Mountains. This is what I said in Kiandra, in the heart of the Snowy Mountains:

Year by year by year, the National Parks decided they didn't want people here. … They thought the only knowledge or experience that mattered was in an office … or in a bureaucracy.

… In January of 2003, the dry storms rolled through … and fire started and the National Parks said, 'We're not going to put them out' …

So I did not blame firefighters; I blamed the mismanagement of the National Parks bureaucracy. What I said was based on a Commonwealth report published in 2003 called A nation charred that showed evidence that the National Parks's mismanagement had resulted in excessive fuel load, inadequate hazard reduction, poor fire-trail access and a lack of management planning. I table this report, Mr Speaker. The member for Eden-Monaro should withdraw and apologise.

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