"Arson is the act of intentionally and maliciously destroying or damaging property through the use of fire." [Australian Institute of Criminology, 9 November 2004]
The first response of hard right politicians and climate change deniers when faced with the effects of climate change is to resort to lies and misdirection.
This has begun to occur with a vengeance in 2020 with exaggerated claims concerning arson during the 2019-20 bushfire season.
This has begun to occur with a vengeance in 2020 with exaggerated claims concerning arson during the 2019-20 bushfire season.
ABC News, 8 January 2020:
Australia's bushfire emergency is being exploited on social media, as misinformation is spread through cyberspace via hundreds of thousands of posts.
Out-of-date photos of survivors and inaccurate fire maps have been widely shared, including by international celebrities.
As authorities fight the flames on firegrounds around the country, an ABC investigation has revealed a battle of a very different kind online.
One area of misinformation has been the hashtag #ArsonEmergency on Twitter.
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researcher Dr Timothy Graham analysed 315 accounts posting #ArsonEmergency and said a third of them displayed highly-automated and inauthentic behaviour.
He said the topic appeared to be attracting a "suspiciously high number of bot-like and troll-like accounts".
The ABC found many of the suspicious accounts were amplifying unproven suggestions arson had been the overwhelming cause of Australia's disastrous bushfire season.
Several Twitter users were misrepresenting a media report about police investigating whether some of the fires were deliberately lit, despite the same report noting the blazes on the NSW South Coast were likely caused by lightning strikes.
Some incorrectly quoted Australian police as having dismissed the link between the fires and climate change. An article posted by an American far-right figure went one step further, claiming left-wing ecoterrorists were responsible for lighting the blazes....
Read the full article here.
The Guardian, 8 January 2019:
Victoria police say there is no evidence any of the devastating bushfires in the state were caused by arson, contrary to the spread of global disinformation exaggerating arsonist arrests during the current crisis.
A misleading figure suggesting 183 arsonists have been arrested “since the start of the bushfire season” spread across the globe on Wednesday, after initial reports in News Corp were picked up by Donald Trump Jr, US far-right websites and popular alt-right personalities.....
Queensland police said between 10 September and 8 January there had been 1,068 reported bushfires in the state, of which 114 had been deliberately or maliciously lit through human involvement and have been subject to police enforcement action.....
NSW police statistics show 24 individuals have been arrested for deliberately lighting bushfires during the current fire season.
But a Rural Fire Service spokesman told Sky News on Wednesday that the majority of the larger fires in the state were caused by lightning, and that arson was a relatively small source of ignition.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
10 January 2020:
A
News Corp employee has slammed the organisation for its
"irresponsible", "dangerous" and "damaging"
coverage of the national bushfire crisis, urging executive chairman
Michael Miller to think about the "big picture".
In
an email distributed to News Corp Australia staff and addressed to Mr
Miller, commercial finance manager Emily Townsend said she had been
filled with anxiety and disappointment over the coverage, which had
impacted her ability to work.
Ms
Townsend, who has worked for News Corp Australia for five years,
thanked Mr Miller for the email about fundraising initiatives in
relation to the fires, but said the efforts did not offset the
company's coverage of the bushfires.
"I
have been severely impacted by the coverage of News Corp publications
in relation to the fires, in particular the misinformation campaign
that has tried to divert attention away from the real issue which is
climate change to rather focus on arson (including misrepresenting
facts)," she said.
"I
find it unconscionable to continue working for this company, knowing
I am contributing to the spread of climate change denial and lies.
The reporting I have witnessed in The Australian, The Daily Telegraph
and Herald Sun is not only irresponsible, but dangerous and damaging
to our communities and beautiful planet that needs us more than ever
to acknowledge the destruction we have caused and start doing
something about it."….
After
the email leaked, Ms Townsend said she felt compelled to send it to
Mr Miller's email group because of the "sickening" coverage
the media organisation had given to the bushfires.
"Everything
I said in the email I stand by. I feel sick, not because the email
has been circulated but because I have been contributing to this
deception by continuing to work for this organisation. I haven't been
able to sleep, this has really preoccupied my thinking; it is
unconscionable what this company has been doing when it comes to
climate change," she said.
Ms
Townsend's comments follow an influx of false and misleading posts
spread on social media websites this week about the cause of the
bushfires, which have raised concerns among politicians and
academics....
It would not surprise me to find that Tophan Guerin - contracted by Scott Morrison to handle his social media election campaign in 2019 - had a hand in starting this fake news conflagration which News Corp has vigorously stoked on a daily basis.
NSW recorded crime statistics for the 2019-20 financial year will not be available before July this year. However, arson statistics for the 24 months up to September 2019 are publicly available.
These statistics show that there was a -36.1% trend fall in the total number of persons taken to court on arson related charges in those 24 months.
As of end September 2019 the NSW arson rate was 62.8 per 100,000 head of population.
According to NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Ben Shepherd the vast majority of major fires in the state since August 2019 were the result of lightning storms.
A more realistic picture of what has been happening on the ground since August 2019 can be found on the NSW Police website and in online media articles under The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian mastheads, rather than posts or tweets with the hashtag #ArsonEmergency.
In the 23 locations listed below only 8 had fires which met the definition of arson and, of these only 6 involved grass or bushland fires.
NSW recorded crime statistics for the 2019-20 financial year will not be available before July this year. However, arson statistics for the 24 months up to September 2019 are publicly available.
These statistics show that there was a -36.1% trend fall in the total number of persons taken to court on arson related charges in those 24 months.
As of end September 2019 the NSW arson rate was 62.8 per 100,000 head of population.
According to NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Ben Shepherd the vast majority of major fires in the state since August 2019 were the result of lightning storms.
A more realistic picture of what has been happening on the ground since August 2019 can be found on the NSW Police website and in online media articles under The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian mastheads, rather than posts or tweets with the hashtag #ArsonEmergency.
In the 23 locations listed below only 8 had fires which met the definition of arson and, of these only 6 involved grass or bushland fires.
Information from NSW Police website
& non-News Corp mainstream media articles:
Wednesday 21 August 2019
* Three girls aged 12, 13 and 14 allegedly set fire to grasslands on thirteen occasions in the Kempsey area of the mid-North Coast, Grasslands which at the time were being controlled by NSWRFS.
Wednesday 21 August 2019
* Three girls aged 12, 13 and 14 allegedly set fire to grasslands on thirteen occasions in the Kempsey area of the mid-North Coast, Grasslands which at the time were being controlled by NSWRFS.
Monday 11
November 2019
*
27 year old man during a total fire ban allegedly lit a campfire at Wallacia in the Sydney outer western metropolitan region.
Tuesday 12
November 2019
*
35 year old man living at Prestons in the Sydney outer western metropolitan region allegedly burned fence palings in
a cylindrical BBQ causing a fire.
*
Man living in Laylor Park in the Sydney outer western metropolitan region allegedly lit a coal BBQ during a total fire
ban.
*
9
year old boy allegedly set grass alight with blowtorch causing a
grass fire behind a street in Nowra on the South Coast.
Wednesday 13
November 2019
*
5 men in different locations were allegedly found
to be breaching total fire bans by lighting barbeque fires, incinerating
rubbish or lighting a candle at a campsite.
Thursday 14
November 2019
*51
year old man allegedly attempted a backburn to protect his cannabis
crop and lost control of the fire which spread across est. 5,400ha in the Ebor region.
Tuesday 26 November 2019
* 19 year old NSWRFS volunteer firefighter charged with allegedly starting seven fires in the Bega Valley on the South Coast between October 17 and November 26
Saturday 30
November 2019
*
15
year old girl and
23 year old man allegedly
set fire to a grandstand in
Orange, destroying est. about
40% of the
structure.
Thursday 5
December 2019
*
40 year old man allegedly
deliberately
set fire to grass on a vacant lot in Telarah on the Central Coast.
Sunday 22
December 2019
*
Reserve at Wellington in the central west of the state caught fire and a number of boys were allegedly seen running from the area.
An
11 year old boy attended
Wellington Police Station
in relation to the incident.
*
Two
18 year old men allegedly
set
off fireworks in Bright
Park, Guildford (Sydney) causing
grass fires.
Thursday 26
December 2019
*
71
year old man allegedly
lit fire for land clearance/fire break without permit/notice and permited
fire to escape his
land
in
Deua River Valley causing
extensive
fire damage to
nearby Wandera State Forest (>100ha) and Monga National Park on the South Coast. This fireground merged with other fires, eventually covering est. 83,425ha and was still listed as out of control on 10 January 2020.
Friday 27
December 2019
*
23 year old man allegedly deliberately lit two fires in bushland at
Neath and Aberdare in the Lower Hunter Valley region.
Monday 30
December 2019
*
18 year old man charged with 5 counts of malicious damage after
allegedly setting fire to 3 cars and 3 garbage bins in the township
of Raymond Terrace in the Hunter Valley.
Thursday 2
January 2020
*
84-year-old man
on
a rural property at Kalkite in the Southern Highlands allegedly
lit
a fire for land clearance/fire break without permit/notice.
Saturday 4
January 2020
*
63 year old man living in Cooma in the Snowy Mountains region allegedly
had a small
fire burning in a shallow pit dug into the ground in
his backyard for
the purposes of cooking.
Sunday 5
January 2020
*
38
year old man and his companion allegedly
started
a small scrub fire in the
Taro area of the Hunter Valley after a cooking fire ignited brush.
*
44
year old man allegedly
lit
fires
for land clearance/fire break without permit/notice and set
fire to the property
at
Countegany in the Southern Highlands.
Friday 10 January 2020
* 40 year old man allegedly set alight two metal drums filled with plastic at Schofields in Sydney’s western suburbs, during a total fire ban.
Friday 10 January 2020
* 40 year old man allegedly set alight two metal drums filled with plastic at Schofields in Sydney’s western suburbs, during a total fire ban.
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