Liam Sheahan and his wife Dale, for example, were dragged through the courts by their local Mitchell Shire Council and fined $50,000 for clearing the trees around their home in 2002.

Today, the Sheahans' home is the only one standing in a 2km radius after fires swept through last week.

"Labor has pandered to minority green groups to get over the line, but now we hope that what happened to us might be a catalyst for change,'' Liam said.

This from someone who has dealt with the ciourts and the local authorities...  gee too bad his "ignorance" led to his house being the only one left standing.



"The situation is the same from Adelaide to southern NSW."

Reedy Creek is an easy hour's drive from Melbourne. Two hours further north, in Tawonga South, just over the 895m high Tawonga Gap, Allan Mull, a former farmer, former fire brigade captain, prospector, developer and now alpine activist campaigns for safer forests from his eco-friendly home surrounded by an organic garden and covered in solar panels.

A founding member of the small but vocal Alpine Conservation and Access Group, he has studies and reports which show the need for regular burning to keep the alpine forests healthy.

"Aborigines used to start fires on the ridge lines as they came down after feasting on bogong moths every year," Mull, a fourth generation member of a Kiewa Valley family, told me.

"When the forests were commercially logged and under the control of the old Forestry Commission, the forestry workers did the same thing.

"But the state government since the days of (former Labor premiers) John Cain and Joan Kirner have allowed green ideologues to take over. The forests have been locked up, the fire trails have been closed, they are full of weeds and feral animals. The state has failed in its duty of care. Our national parks and reserves are now national disasters, whether burnt or not.''

Mull also blames the city media for not listening to rural voices, saying that urban green groups are never questioned but experienced country representatives are mocked.

   * That management of fuel load in parks and access to remote area was lacking.

The Inquiry recommended there should be increased emphasis given to controlled burning as a fuel-reduction strategy.

"that there be an ongoing program of back-burning and fuel-load management across the ACT, to ensure that at all times forestry and other access roads are kept clear and are accessible to emergency personnel and vehicles and to ensure that fuel loads are kept at a level that will minimise the risk of a recurrence of the firestorm"