Australian PM Scott Morrison announced National inquiry into bushfires

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday announced a national inquiry into the devastating bushfires that claimed the lives of at least 33 people, killed millions of animals and destroyed thousands of homes. The Royal Commission into the bushfires was on signed-off by Governor-General David Hurley, reports Xinhua news agency. Former Australian Defence Force (ADF) chief Mark Binskin, former Federal Court judge Annabelle Bennett and a specialist in climate risk and impact management Professor Andrew Macintosh from the Australian National University (ANU) have been appointed as commissioners and given until the end of August to submit their findings. Morrison said that the inquiry will focus on improving Australia’s preparedness for natural disasters, improving natural disaster coordination and the federal government’s role in responding to national emergencies and how it cooperates with state and territory governments. “My priority is to keep Australians safe and to do that, we need to learn from the Black Summer bushfires how nationally we can work better with the states and territories to better protect and equip Australians for living in hotter, drier and longer summers,” he said. (IANS)

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