The defence force has been criticised after a helicopter crew delayed telling anyone for 45 minutes, they had started a fire near Canberra during the Black Summer bushfires. The blaze destroyed most of the Namadji National Park before sweeping across the border into New South Wales.
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00:00I think it's fair to say that my clients are very grateful that the Chief Coroner has now
00:07published her findings into the public domain and confirmed that the cause of the fire was
00:15in fact the Defence Force helicopter.
00:18These facts obviously hadn't been put out in the public arena before today.
00:23Yeah, quite incredible. Was there an explanation for the 45 minute delay?
00:31The general explanation that the Chief Coroner found based on the evidence was that the crew
00:37members and the passengers simply appeared to have either assumed that someone else was
00:42going to make the contact or otherwise just simply didn't think of making contact at all.
00:48When was it, Sam, that your clients first learnt of this delay and thus the factor that it
00:55caused a fire that destroyed their houses?
01:00It was within the actual process of the Chief Coroner conducting the inquiry that this information
01:07first came to light. There obviously had been much debate and probably some scurrilous rumours
01:15in the ACT community about what had occurred on that day. So I think it's been beneficial
01:21to the community as a whole to have these things verified by the coroner.
01:26And I gather, Sam, it wasn't an easy path to this inquiry?
01:29No, it certainly wasn't, Lorna. Unfortunately, from my client's point of view, their request
01:36to the ACT Attorney General was met with a refusal to conduct this open public inquiry. Fortunately,
01:45the Chief Coroner, after the petition was made by my clients, acted of her own motion to investigate
01:52this devastating fire.
01:54What's the next step for your clients?
01:58Landholders in both the ACT and New South Wales across the border who have been burnt out have
02:06rights to seek compensation for the damage that's been done. My clients have commenced proceedings
02:13in the Supreme Court in Canberra and are pursuing those at the moment. Seeking compensation from
02:20who, sorry? From the Commonwealth, who's liable as a result of the negligence that occurred in
02:30igniting this fire. Sam, it must have been such a traumatic period for the people you represent.
02:39They lose their homes and then they have to fight for justice. How have they coped through
02:44this? It's fair to say, I think, Lorna, that the loss of the homes, the destruction of their
02:51properties and the impact on them personally has been immense. I think it's probably fair
02:58to say that five and a half years on and with ongoing court proceedings trying to get compensation
03:05from the Commonwealth, that they are still struggling to recover many, many years later.
03:10Have most of them rebuilt, moved elsewhere? Some have moved away. Some have lived in temporary
03:18accommodation and continue to do so. And I think, by and large, there's been substantial amounts of
03:25effort and energy dedicated to trying to remediate their properties, because obviously the impact
03:31of the fire is to the trees, grass, native flora and fauna, as the Chief Coroner found also,
03:39that they are still many years on trying to resolve as well.