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Bushfire expert David Packham says the Victorian government are not supporting the national inquiry because they “have so much dirty washing” and are “ultimately responsible for the deadly conditions that exist in Victoria". The royal commission into this summer’s bushfires has hit a road block due to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews withholding his support from the national inquiry. Mr Packham said the royal commission into this summer’s bushfires “is one of the most hopeful things that has occurred recently” which has the potential to help “turn Australia back into a healthy and safe environment”. Australia is “turning into a secret state” as the government restricts the release of information on bushfire funds to the general public, he said. In March 2003 a Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry into the Canberra Bushfires aimed to identify measures which could help minimise the incidence and impact of bushfires in the future. According to Mr Packham, at the conclusion of this inquiry the government “stopped all of their information being available to the people of Australia". “They are doing the same thing now,” he told Sky News host Peter Credlin. Mr Packham said the Gippsland disaster relief fund had announced they wanted to spend one million dollars on areas which had suffered the most damage in the fires. However, an email was discovered from the government which informed “bureaucracies that they were not to release to the people of Australia this sort of information”. Image: Getty