Dr. Kevin Smyth:

It is an issue of basic justice. There has to be a way of proving that somebody caused the fire. In a situation where a person carried out a controlled burn and accidentally burned down somebody else's land, that second farmer is innocent of this and that is the basis on which the Department would proceed. There is a burden of proof if one is to penalise a farmer; it must be proved that the farmer actually set the fire and did so outside the rules that require controlled burning. There is an onus on the Department to ensure that the evidence is there to prove that the guilty farmer is guilty and also that innocent victims of fires are not penalised.