“We were going out and meeting kangaroos and red neck wallabies that were moving away from the fire,” she said. “A lot of wombats, I’m not sure what they’re going to eat. All of the forest floor, any grass any shrubs, are gone.”
Jones said her rainfall records showed last month to be the driest November in 40 years. The November average is about 100ml but this year it was 18ml. The role of climate change in contributing to Australia’s unusually early and fierce fire season has been the subject of acute political debate.
The federal government has refused to concede that climate change – and in particular Australia’s continued rising carbon emissions and massive fossil fuel exports – have played any role in the current fire crisis.