Time-bomb to catastrophe

On A Newsman and his Music  this week Colin spoke to Michael Buxton, Emeritus Professor Environment and Planning, RMIT University.  He says the recent bushfires have reinforced findings from earlier Royal Commissions and studies that scattered housing in rural landscapes and rural-residential housing on the edge of towns are at greatest risk from bushfires.  He told Colin that the scale of this problem is immense in Australia. Tens of thousands of existing lots in these landscapes are gradually being developed placing thousands more people in harm’s way. Professor Buxton says this planning failure “is a ‘time-bomb’ of catastrophic proportions given the certainty of increased risk under climate-change scenarios.”

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