Bushfire expert Ross Bradstock says investment needs to jump to half a billion dollars a year in NSW alone just to keep pace with the increasing bushfire threat.
State government land management agencies, which carry out the majority of prescribed burns, are limited by funding, staff and safe periods in weather conditions to carry out burns before summer.
"Fire management is a bit of a Trojan Horse in rural communities - it's used to bash up governments. But I know as a landholder who's lived in bushland areas I was able to carry out burning and clearing on my property, and I found it relatively easy to do.
"One critical thing is where the burning is done; we need to be strategic to protect life and property." "We need to recognise that sometimes it will go wrong, it will escape and burn what we didn't want it to and as a society we need to wear that. The grumpier we get with governments and agencies when that happens, the more risk-averse agencies and politicians become."
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