I wondered how long it would take Andrew Bolt to use the tragedy of Black Saturday to try and bash his perceived political enemies, and only a few weeks after the one-year anniversary of February 7th, he thinks he can get away with it with his typing in today’s Hun.

Now, we know many words are being written about the success and failures on that terrible day, with most of those commenting at least having the decency to get their facts right, understanding that many people are still deeply traumatised by what we went through.

Without going too far into the psychology of those of us trying to recover, it is extremely important to us that a truthful understanding of what happened is reported by the mainstream media, as the details of the firestorm are examined by the scientists and fire experts at the Royal Commission and in other forums.

Bolt’s article today contains many factual errors in his attempt to smear his usual political opponents. His attempt to spin this to his advantage is both selfish and hurtful to those of us who lost so much. It doesn’t help anybody to have him muddying the waters with his offensive opinion typing.

First, this:

Yes, that movement includes merely naive tree-changers from the city complaining about the smoke from fuel-reduction burns, without understanding that picture-postcard forests can actually kill if not tamed.

I have lived at the base of the Kinglake ranges for more than 20 years, I am yet to meet anyone from our area, new resident or old, who was not aware of the extreme danger of bushfire for those living near a large area of forest such as the Kinglake National Park. His insults aimed at those of us who choose to live in a rural or semi-rural area, make it quite obvious he has not spoken to anyone from the burnt area or done any research before making this assertion. How can you be part of a movement that is “anti-forestry” when we don’t have forestry in the national park at Kinglake. As for an “anti-fire management movement” he needs to come and talk to the CFA volunteers and residents in our area to hear how accurate that description is.

Yes, we have people who question the timing and location of some of the burns — this is because they can get out of control and damage private farming land or burn sensitive areas of bush that locals, through landcare, have spent much time and effort working on, to prevent things such as erosion and weed infestation. Burning needs to be carefully managed.

Secondly:

… Nillumbik Shire, which contains the now burned-out Kinglake …

Kinglake is not in Nillumbik shire, it’s in Murrindindi. You would think a quality typist such as Bolt would have at least looked at a map. How Nillumbik council issued the fines for “clearing trees from their homes or for removing dead wood” in Kinglake, in another shire, is something I would like him to explain.

In fact, I live in Strathewen, below Kinglake, which is in Nilllumbik shire and it doesn’t contain the vast bulk of the national park. Fuel reduction burning has been going on for as long as I have lived in the area. This is done by the locals as most of the land is privately owned, but I am aware of many CFA burn-offs occurring in Nillumbik shire around towns such as nearby St Andrews.

Read the full response here.