He regularly represented Australia emergency services internationally, covering issues such as terrorist attacks, urban search and rescue, and climate change.
[11] Reflecting on his time during office, Mullins believes that current serving fire chiefs are gagged from speaking out in different ways.
"[12] He has also stated, "when I was commissioner I was constrained in talking about climate change because it was very inconvenient to some politicians...I was spoken to by my minister at the time and senior officials saying not to buy into that, just don't, it's not your job, just fight the fires.
[20] As Mullins explained, "Across our careers, we have observed the climate changing for the worse, and natural disaster risks escalating in tandem with increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
Our group, which launched with 23 members last year and now counts 33 former fire chiefs among our ranks, has made repeated, and detailed recommendations to the Federal government on how to better prepare Australia for worsening bushfire danger.
"[21] Mullins also stated, "We are deeply concerned about the lack of climate action at a national level and felt obligated to speak out.
Mullins and other members of ELCA tried to meet with Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, for multiple months in the lead up to summer to “warn the prime minister about what veteran firefighters, climate scientists and meteorologists all identified as a looming bushfire disaster.”[23] He has also stated that they "knew that a bushfire crisis was coming".
[25] He called for the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels as the driver behind climate change and the bushfires, "if we are to have any hope of coping with the increasing bushfire threat, we must deal with the underlying driver – by phasing out fossil fuels, banning new coal, oil, and gas projects, and reaching net zero emissions as fast as possible.
[30] Instead he argues, "the Federal Government must tackle the root cause of climate change by urgently phasing out fossil fuels to reach net zero emissions.