Act on Climate (AoC) attended and shared its campaign material at the Hotter, Drier, Risker: Bushfire in the Colac-Otway Region event in Colac on 16 April 2025 at Colac Otway Performing Arts & Cultural Centre. The event set out to explore: "with bushfire seasons getting longer and more intense, how can our communities be safer and better prepared?"

It featured Colac Otway Climate Action Team, members of which are part of AoC's Frontline Climate Alliance Vic (FCAV) and attend AoC's Adaptation Activator calls, Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, Emergency Leaders for Climate Action's Greg Mullins, and Australian Firefighters Climate Alliance. In addition, candidates standing for the seat of Wannon in the 2025 federal election were there to share their views and answer questions.

The evening was well attended by community members from all over the Colac-Otway Region and covered what’s changing in our environment, what it means for fire risk, and what governments can do to prepare us.

The event was excellently MCed by journalist, Kirsten Diprose. Colac Otway Climate Action Team, which hosted the event as locals, was first on stage welcoming everyone and setting the scene. It has been active in the community for years, and has members who live in Colac and surrounding bushfire-threatened areas such as the Otway Forest.

Next Kirsten invited on the stage keynote speaker Greg Mullins AO of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (and former Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW) shared a presentation and spoke on why and how climate change is causing more severe bushfires. Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) advocates for fire and emergency services to be equipped to protect Australian communities from increasingly frequent and damaging extreme weather events. 

Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action then screened some of its incredibly emotional stories. Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action is a non-partisan community organisation made up of people from across Australia who have been deeply impacted by bushfires. It shares powerful stories and makes the case for stronger action on climate change to protect communities from worsening bushfires.

This was followed by a panel discussion comprising Greg Mullins, Jo Dodds from Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, and Cam Walker from Australian Firefighters Climate Alliance, which does similar work to ELCA at the local level to organise volunteer firefighters. During the conversation, these important points were raised (loosely quoted):

• Jo Dodds: There is not only stress during a fire, although this is the most stress you'll ever feel in your life, but after a bushfire there is a series of stressors everyone has to face - the insurance fight, very complex bureaucracy, losing things like your personal ID documents.
  At the same time, you are hearing in the news that things are getting worse - emissions are going up etc.
  In terms of getting back on your feet, how do you keep doing it when there is fire after fire, with floods in between? You can't simply be resilient for this - what is needed is help to not have the next fire - we need no more coal and gas.
  
  
• Cam Walker: Volunteer firefighters are exhausted at the end of a long season of bushfires - they run out of leave and can't afford time off. In addition, brigades are aging and fires getting worse. We need to prepare for those kinds of seasons - we need to invest in people and equipment.
  
  
• Greg Mullins: In the short term, we have to adapt. Resilience and preparation are now needed as we are heading towards a more dangerous future. We need solar microgrids. We need to give people the ability to take action if the local brigade has been taken somewhere else. We need basic firefighting equipment.
  During the Lismore floods, it was the community who saved lives. We need to train communities so they know how to do this safely.
  In the long term, we need to take climate action. Hazard reduction burns can't be done like they used too - it is now too hot or too dry and the fire gets away from you.
  
  
• Jo Dodds: The only way can make communities safer is talk to politicians about reducing emissions. We want to see sensible policy and a move from fossil fuels to more renewables.
  
  
• Cam Walker: FFMV Firefighters need better pay. We need to find ways to increase volunteers, such as making brigades safe and inclusive spaces. We need a volunteer Remote Area Firefighting Team (RAFT) - all the other states have one. There is support for a RAFT - all that is needed to make this happen is money in state budget for.

Next up was a panel discussion featuring local candidates for the upcoming Federal Election who were asked about their position and policies around climate and bushfires.

Afterwards, attendees and panelists chatted away for a good long time while finishing off the sandwiches and cakes supplied from a local bakery.

Act on Climate attendees found the event very interesting, especially the measures panelists noted are need to make communities safer as bushfire risk increases and bushfires intensify. AoC is calling on the Victorian Government to provide adequate and ongoing funding to community-led initiatives to prepare for now-unavoidable climate impacts such as more intense and frequent bushfires. Join the call by adding your name to our petition and email your MP to back up Victoria's call for more action on climate adaptation.

Speakers bios

• Greg Mullins AO became a major national figure in the 2019–20 bushfire crisis. From being a volunteer and career firefighter, he is an internationally recognised expert in responding to major bushfires and natural disasters. During his 39-year career, among many roles, he served as a Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW; President, Vice President and Board Chair of the Australasian Fire & Emergency Service Authorities’ Council; and NSW representative on the Australian Emergency Management Committee. In early 2019 he formed Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, a coalition of 34 former fire and emergency service chiefs from throughout Australia.
  
  
• Jo Dodds came to climate advocacy after many years working in community and social services, including as a family counsellor, a journalist, and a councillor with Bega Valley Shire Council. These roles have given her a broad and personal understanding of the strengths and vulnerabilities of her community. After experiencing the Tathra Fire of March 2018 and the 2019-2020 Black Summer fires, Jo has joined with other bushfire survivors to advocate for stronger climate action and help others raise their concerns for their communities, homes, livelihoods and environment. As President and a founding member of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, Jo works to change the conversation around climate and put people who are enduring the devastating impacts of climate-fuelled bushfires at the front of the debate. Jo loves Western Victoria, as she was born in the Wimmera and lived in Warrnambool before moving to NSW.
  
  
• Cam Walker lives in Central Victoria and is an active volunteer firefighter with 2 CFA brigades. He received the National Emergency Medal for his contribution to firefighting efforts during Black Summer. Cam is also campaigns coordinator at Friends of the Earth Melbourne, through which he has campaigned for stronger government resourcing of volunteer and career firefighting for many years. Following Black Summer, Cam joined the Australian Firefighters Climate Alliance, a grassroots network of firefighters who want to see governments take stronger action on climate change. 
  
  
• MC Kirsten Diprose has been a journalist for more than 10 years. Most of her career has been working as a TV and radio reporter for the ABC News in Melbourne. She's now settled on a farm in the beautiful Western Districts of Victoria. Kirsten founded her own successful podcast in 2021, Ducks on the Pond: a podcast for rural women, by rural women. She currently runs Rural Podcasting Co.