Former fire chief declines to criticise ScoMo’s holiday as the country burns
A former fire chief has declined to comment on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision to go on holidays while the country struggles to deal with bushfires across the country.
Greg Mullins, the former commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW, made his feelings known in a press conference.
“Look, everybody needs a holiday. I’m not going to comment on what the Prime Minister’s doing, and frankly at the moment, the federal government’s not doing much in this space anyway. So I don’t think it really matters,” Mullins explained.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed on Channel 9’s Today show that Morrison was “overseas with his family”.
“He’s having a well deserved break, and obviously it’s been a very busy year. He’ll be back at work shortly, and then he’ll be off to India, leading a delegation to advance Australia’s interests.”
While some have supported the PM’s decision to relax with his family, others are furious as many are struggling to breathe due to the intense smog surrounding Sydney.
Greens NSW MP David Shoebridge said that Morrison was “in denial”.
“When the country you lead is on fire you have an obligation to stick around and sort it out. Or at least put the right policies in place before you clock off. But this guy’s just in denial ... on holiday ... in denial,” he wrote in a tweet.
However, Mullins wants to focus on the issue at hand as a group of his fellow former fire chiefs have announced plans to hold an emergency summit when the bushfire season is over.
“People are becoming very angry and they want to have a say,” Mr Mullins told news.com.au.
“They are being told that now is not the time to talk about climate change, but I have dealt with hundreds of people who have suffered losses and I know they want to know why. It’s part of the healing process.”
Mullins acknowledged that Australia’s fire services were well resourced, but the impacts of climate change were making the problem nearly impossible to deal with.
“There will always be people thinking that more (resources are) needed. Wondering what could be done. Well frankly, it’s too late. We’ve got what we have. They’re very well resourced,” he said.
“It’s not enough because of climate change. Climate change is driving this problem to a place where you simply can’t deal with it.
“So what we need to do is get people together. It should have been a national government doing this, but they’re not stepping up to the mark, so we will.”