Across the road from my place on Lemon Tree Passage on the New South Wales central coast is an overgrown council reserve. Thirty years ago it was open grassland with a few scattered gum trees. Every couple of years I’d go down to the fire station, get a drip-torch from the truck and burn it off. This kept us safe from summer bushfires. Today it can’t be done despite constant requests to council and extensive environmental studies. Native Vegetation legislation, brought in by a green-leaning Labor government, has all but stopped traditional burning off. This policy is the root cause…