ABSTRACT
Saturday, 7 February 2009, was a sweltering hot day on the New South Wales Southern Tablelands in Australia. Even at eight o’clock in the morning as I drove through the farm gates to the property of the couple I was to interview, the weather felt oppressive. The air had already started to shimmer with heat. I remember wondering if I should have informed the local bushfire brigade that I was in the vicinity in case they needed an extra pair of hands over the weekend. I also felt relieved that I had only managed to line up one interview that day, as the heat was numbing. As the interview progressed the conversation wandered onto politics, feminism, and the need for wildfire risk engagement initiatives specifically targeting women. It was a heartfelt conversation that laid bare honest feelings of frustration and fear towards wildfire management issues. Four years later the passionate voice of the woman is as vivid in my mind’s ear as if the interview had taken place yesterday. Upon hearing that funds had not been secured to expand an innovative and successful trial of training courses specifically targeting women’s bushfire preparedness in South Australia, Nicola, 1 a public servant, exclaimed:
I’m not surprised. It probably occurred more directly, more immediately after the last batch of bushfires. The money dries up. The sympathy, emphasis and focus go to “Oh no, we’re running out of electricity, water and something other much more urgent”—whatever the newspaper headline is for the day. Give me an immediate political response! We always call it “The Daily Telegraph moment of truth”. 2 What’s the driver behind this according to The Daily Telegraph? Is this a policy announcement in response to The Daily Telegraph? Are we amending a policy in response to The Daily Telegraph? Or how will this policy be read by The Daily Telegraph? Because that is Australia: public, general…. What we need is a couple of women and children burnt to death in the next bushfire. I’m so sorry but it’s the tragic truth! We need the picture of the woman running down the road with kangaroos fleeing with her, hair on fire, for it to be that Daily Telegraph policy. “Women abandoned!!!” Unfortunately it’s an incredible driver of policy here because we have no commitment politically to the long term. (♀ NSW Feb. 2009)
