Citation

Robbins JR. Int. J. Mass Emerg. Disasters 1990; 8(3): 325-340.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, International Sociological Association, International Research Committee on Disasters)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Stirling bushfire of 1980 produced the first substantial claim for disaster liability against a South Australian local authority. In the absence of precedent and clear rules of process, this developed into a long and costly legal battle lasting nine years and then developed into a political conflict between the Council and the ruling Labor State government. The community is riven by discord about the terms of settlement. A positive outcome has been the establishment of a local Government Association Mutual Liability Scheme which indicates the possibility of local government collaboration as an alternative to a state-local relationship with its concomitant conflict.