“If only I’d prayed more”: Bushfire victim sends scathing message to Scott Morrison
A New South Wales man who lost his home in the bushfires has launched a blistering criticism at Prime Minister Scott Morrison over the federal government’s inadequate response to the crisis.
Earlier this month, Stuart Mackay’s family home was burned down in fires at Nymboida in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.
The man criticised the Morrison government’s response to the blazes and called for more Rural Fire Service planes to be made available to the firefighters in a series of messages spray-painted on pieces of corrugated iron from the debris of his home.
“If only I’d prayed more,” one of Mackay’s messages read, which appeared to refer to Morrison’s Twitter post on November 8 that stated: “Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been so directly and horribly impacted by these fires.”
Mackay also took a swipe at Morrison’s branding of his supporters as the “quiet Australians” with the message: “Quiet Aussies lead to homes on fire.”
Some other messages included “Our homes vs your surplus”, “Thoughts & Prayers vs Action” and “No climate catastrophe? Shame ScoMo”.
As of Sunday evening, 65 fires were burning across NSW with 31 yet to be contained. All of these were at “advice” alert level, including the 180,000 hectare Gospers Mountain blaze near Sydney’s north-western outskirts.
On Sunday morning, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced $48 million has been set aside for bushfire recovery to aid affected communities.
The recovery package includes grants of up to $15,000 to help small businesses and farmers.
“The impact to communities has been evident over the last few weeks, however the extent of the impact to our farming and business sectors has not been fully quantified as these bushfires continue to burn,” Berejiklian said in a statement.
“When money flows around a community it can help to speed up the whole recovery.”