Scott Morrison has flagged a push to overhaul the management of fuel loads in national parks as well as the rules around land and native vegetation clearing as he warned the fires would rage on after the Christmas period.
In a media blitz this morning, the Prime Minister stood firm against ramping up Australia’s climate change commitments after meeting with NSW fire crews and opening the door for compensation for volunteers fighting the nearly 200 blazes across the nation.
Speaking on 2GB, Mr Morrison said that action was “absolutely” needed to better address “how fuel loads are managed in national parks” and said a greater focus should be placed on the “rules that sit around clearing trees” close to properties.
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He warned that some people had been “quite difficult” in preventing progress in these areas but agreed it was necessary to change the existing rules.
Mr Morrison praised the efforts of firefighters and said he had embraced the wife and fiancee of the two firefighters in NSW — Andrew O’Dwyer and Geoffrey Keaton — who were tragically killed after they were hit by a falling tree in their fire truck.
“I embraced them as anyone would,” he said. “Hopefully, that provided some comfort but they are obviously in terrible shock, terrible grief.”
“If the truck had gone through half a minute earlier or later, then things may have been different.”
Mr Morrison said that Australia always relied on volunteer forces in times of trouble and compared the efforts of fire fighters to surf life savers patrolling the nation’s beaches over summer.
He said his government would not “make any knee jerk responses” to the disaster and warned against changing Australia’s climate change policies, arguing this action alone would not help to cool the planet and instead “make the livelihoods of Australians more challenging.”
Speaking on the Today program on the Nine network, he said that Australia’s emissions are “50 million tonnes on average lower every year under our government than the previous government.”
“Australia is taking action on climate change. What we won’t do is engage in reckless and job-destroying and economy crunching targets which are being sought to be postured to us at the moment, taking advantage of national disasters.”
Pressed on his decision to holiday in Hawaii at the height of the bushfire season, Mr Morrison said: “I was very clear about my regrets and the apologies I made yesterday.”
“I also thank the many Australians for their messages of support at the same time and including those I was with yesterday. They understand what the focus needs to be and that is on what’s happening on the firegrounds,” he said.
Speaking on the Sunrise program, Mr Morrison also pushed back at some of the coverage of his holiday and why his office did not public his decision to go on holiday in a more transparent manner. “I think that this is an issue the media’s got very excited about and my political opponents are seeking to exploit,” he said.
“I followed the same process I had on previous occasions and no journalist raised any issues on that on the last two occasions over the last year and half, so I said yesterday if we can improve that for next time, then fine.”
Canberra Bureau Chief
Canberra
Joe Kelly joined The Australian in 2008 and since 2010 has worked in the parliamentary press gallery. He is now the Canberra Bureau Chief.
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