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MELBOURNE, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- A Tasmanian Senate inquiry has recommended that Australia creates a national team to fight bushfires in remote areas.
The inquiry, which investigated a series of bushfires in the state in the summer of 2015 and 2016 that destroyed thousands of hectares of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA), made six sweeping recommendations on how bushfires were fought in the state.
As well as the national team, which would be the first of its kind, the report also recommended that long-term funding be made available to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and state governments.
Nick McKim, a Senator for the Greens Party who led the inquiry, said that climate change would only increase the threat posed by bushfires.
"What triggered the inquiry was the loss of some globally precious wilderness areas to fire, particularly some areas which are not fire adapted in the way that they've evolved," McKim said.
"This inquiry was about not only what happened during the fires but how we can respond better, more efficiently, and more safely into the future."
He said that the national remote-area bushfire team would help authorities combat blazes in remote areas.
"It could move rapidly around the country in response to fire events and be part of a response that overwhelms or attempts to overwhelm wilderness fires as quickly as possible, before they turn in to large, challenging wilderness fires that are very, very difficult to get on top of," he said.
Tasmanian Senators David Bushby and Jonathon Duniam and Victoria's James Patinson, all members of the Liberal National Party (LNP), released a dissenting report which said the national team was not needed.
"Coalition Senators note that despite the significance of the event not one life or property was lost," the report said
"We also note that Tasmania has withstood more significant fire events in the past."
