Canberra: An Australian senator on Tuesday sparked a controversy by claiming that the ‘eco-terrorists’ were responsible for the unprecedented bush fire crisis in the country.
Senator Concette Fierravanti-Wells, who is also a senior member of the ruling conservative Liberal party and a former government minister, made the remarks while addressing the country’s Parliament on Tuesday.
The 59-year-old senator also called on the nation’s spies to investigate the bush fire crisis, which according to her, was caused by the Eco-terrorists.
"This season has been dominated by natural causes, mainly lightning," he said in January.
Fierravanti-Wells claimed that the vast number of fires that started around the same time "not only gave the impression of the possibility of arsonist attack but also suggests a level of coordination." "Who are they? What was their motive and intent? Are they lone actors or part of a sinister collective conducting Eco-terrorism?" she asked.
Fierravanti-Wells is the latest lawmaker from Prime Minister Scott Morrison's party to blame arson for the bush fires.
However, Head of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons, said that arsonists were not the main cause of the fire that tore through millions of hectares of south-eastern Australia in 2019.
The bush fires have reignited Australia's climate change debate, and the senator's comments echo online disinformation about the cause of the flames.
Over months blazes scorched more than 10 million hectares in the country's east and south, killing at least 33 people and an estimated billion animals while destroying more than 2,500 homes.
It is believed that the massive bush fires were exacerbated by prolonged drought and worsened by climate change in the country's hottest and driest year on record.
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