Why is no one reporting on the arsonists that are settling many of these fires?

What has happened to the heat load, as opposed to temperature over this time?

100 years...... out of 4.5 billion? Probably not really significant, statistically. However, it amazes me how many houses are built in known brush fire locations, of highly inflammable materials, no fire fighting equipment, and no firebreak between the houses and surrounding trees. It's almost like they are inviting a fire to burn their house down! In that situation, it would be wise to first build a basement size tank, for water, and then build the house on top of it. Install a generator, and pumps, together with a sprinkler system to protect the roof, so that they can fight any fire that comes close to the firebreak, even if the grid power and water supply fails. Last, keep a goat, to keep the undergrowth under control. It may seem expensive, but compared to losing the whole house, and its contents, not really. In the 'Paradise' fire, in California, one house that survived, was built of fire resistant materials, ie, 'cinderblock,' and a concrete tile roof. The man also had sufficient water to keep things cool. Simple?

In 2009, Australia had almost as bad a year for fire. Afterward, the government set a goal to create backfires in 5% of the land, each year to create fire breaks to control the spread of wild fires. They never once came close to that goal. Remember this the next time you are tempted to Trust Your Government to fix something.

Classic head in the sand or up a bodily orifice syndrome. Ignore the information in the article and make it all about the consequences of the issue instead of the cause. Geez, apparently thoughtful inquiry is a thing of the past. Expected more from down under.

We already know that 2019 was not the second-hottest year "on record." That distinction belongs to 1998. 2019 wasn't even close. It's either the 3rd or 4th hottest in the satellite record, which is arguably more reliable than the longer weather station record which is heavily biased by the majority of weather station locations in urban areas influenced by the urban heat island effect. If you extend the record all the way back to the Medieval Warm Period (AD 950 to 1250) or Roman Warm Period (250 BC to AD 400) all bets are off. We don't have measurements from those periods but proxy records indicate that it was pretty warm, comparable to today. See graph of satellite data at https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/

Brilliant distraction from the underlying problem. And no, the problem is not "lack of climate action" - the problem is that there is no possible action that humanity could conceivably take that is going to make any difference to climate direction. The scale is just TOO VAST.
1961 was not 100 years ago - and cherrypicking timeperiods to make alarmist statements is evil - as is "re-calibrating" past records and "data cleansing", both of which the BOM does, and both of which aide alarmism.
El Nino should have been mentioned earlier too.

FYI - lightening started most of the fires.

Bushfires have been part of Australia for ~60 million years. That means there have been bushfires raging down here even during the last Ice Age.

Many Australian native plants are pyrophytic and require fires for their seeds to germinate and have evolved to contain highly flammable oils and extremely dry barks (eg eucalypts) to provide fuel for fires.

Early European explorers and settlers commented on the Aboriginal people’s familiarity with fire, and the presence of fire in the landscape continually throughout the year. This constant use of fire by Aboriginal people as they went about their daily lives most likely resulted in less dry fuels available for large intense bushfires.

Former CSIRO bushfire scientist David Packham has been warning for years that forest fuel levels had climbed to their most dangerous level in thousands of years.

There have also been around 180+ people questioned for suspected arson this fire season. So far only around 24 have been charged.

There is a time for climate change politics, but I think now people need to see that this is a fire control problem. Hopefully they take it more serious than last time, and set more control fires and cut back bush more.