Scott Morrison defends the government’s bushfire response
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended the government’s response to the bushfires, saying it had always accepted the link between climate change and extreme weather.
Speaking to Michael Rowland on ABC’s 7.30 on Thursday night, Morrison said he had to wait days to deploy 3,000 Australian Defence Force reservists to assist with the bushfire recovery because the callout took time.
“We’ve had the single biggest response which has included the call-out of the Reserves, some 3,000, that’s never happened before,” Morrison said.
“Michael, you don’t call out the reservists and 3,000 of them overnight. That takes a few days to start moving into place and that’s exactly what we were doing at that time.
“We’ve seen big disasters before in Australia that have not led to the call-out of Reserves and a national response like we have now seen.
“But such was the comprehensive scale across many borders, many jurisdictions, that it required us to take that additional supportive step.”
“It hasn't been your finest week has it?” @mjrowland68 asks Prime Minister @ScottMorrisonMP. #abc730 #auspol pic.twitter.com/tJZ8GgfsXt
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Morrison also addressed the hostile reception he had during his visit to the fire ground in Cobargo.
“The decision I take to is to turn up, to show up and if people [are] upset, then I’ll listen to that upset. If people are looking for comfort, then I provide that comfort, and have been pleased to do so on so many occasions,” Morrison said.
Rowland grilled the PM on his government’s stance on climate change.
“You said in a media conference over the weekend that your government had always accepted the link between climate change and extreme weather, including bushfires but that is not the case,” Rowland said.
“As you probably know, your Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, in December said climate change was only the concern of, quoting him directly, 'woke capital-city greenies'.
“Your Communications Minister, Paul Fletcher, on News Breakfast, I had to ask him three times to accept the link between climate change and bushfires. He didn’t go there.”
Morrison said while the government acknowledged the impacts of climate change on weather changes around the world, he denied that policy from a single country could be linked to any of the blazes.
“Of course, global changes in the environment and the climate have a broader impact on the world’s weather systems,” Morrison said.
“What we’ve always said, though, is you cannot link any individual single emissions reduction policy of a country – whether it’s Australia or anyone else – to any specific fire event.
“It is, and always has been, the policy of our government to understand the need to take action on climate change and the impact that has on the world’s broader weather systems and climate systems.”
Morrison said he welcomed the idea of opening a royal commission into the bushfires. “There will be a time, I think, to ensure that we work with the states and territories to get the proper inquiry in place … But right now, the states and territories and ourselves are very focused on responding to these fires and the immediate recovery operations,” he said.
“So we will work together to ensure that there’s an appropriate inquiry that addresses the broad gamut of issues that must be considered, as we come out of what has been a, just an awful natural disaster.”
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