90% of royal commission recommendations have been ignored according to Emergency Leaders for Climate | Busselton-Dunsborough Mail

ELCA claim the federal government has failed to implement 90 per cent of the recommendations of the commission, leaving Australian communities vulnerable to similar catastrophes again.

Many recommendations, such as for a sovereign aerial firefighting capability, nationally-consistent air quality information or prioritising mental health during and after natural disasters have been accepted in principle, or noted, with no further action.

NSW South Coast resident Jack Egan lost his Rosedale house to the Currowan fire in 2020 and is now South East Climate Alliance coordinator.

He made a submission to the Royal Commission and said it was “enormously frustrating” to see recommendations ignored.

“I am in despair,” he said. “What is the plan for turning down the dial on the climate heat?

“It’s been 562 days since the Royal Commission handed its report to the government… there is so little action on climate change which the Royal Commission said was the fundamental driver of these tragic fires and other catastrophes.”

He said the bushfires demonstrated climate change was already having chaotic effects on society.

“In the middle of the fire I knew climate change had crashed from the future into the present.

“I, too, was complacent, like much of the world, thinking the more serious effects of climate change were some way off and we would have time to prepare.

“That is not the case. Climate change has beaten us to it.

The recommendation to endorse Leadership of First Nations people in their land and fire management has been supported, but not acted upon. So too environmental data recommendations and the recommendation to streamline disaster recovery funding.

Mr Egan recently welcomed his first grandchild.

“I am worried I am not going to be able to hand on to my granddaughter a world that is climatically safe and enjoyable like it used to be,” he said.