Australia Fires: PM Scott Morrison Sorry For Hawaii Holiday During Crisis

[appalachiablue]

Source: BBC News

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has apologised for going on holiday while the country struggled with a mounting wildfire crisis. Mr Morrison cut short his trip to Hawaii as criticism of him increased. One person was found dead on Saturday, and wildfires are raging in three states.

Since September, Australia's bushfire emergency has killed at least nine people, destroyed more than 700 homes and scorched millions of hectares. Earlier, deputy prime minister Michael McCormack conceded that more had to be done to tackle global warming, after many Australians linked the severity of this year's fires to climate change.

What did PM Morrison say? "I get it that people would have been upset to know that I was holidaying with my family while their families were under great stress," he said. Speaking after a briefing with fire officials, he said he knew Australians were anxious about the fires but insisted that the emergency response was "the best in the world".

He conceded that climate change was contributing to changing weather patterns, but denied that it had directly caused Australia's wildfires. "It's not a credible suggestion to make that link," he argued. - MORE...

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50879850

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- PM Scott Morrison is back in Australia after cutting short his trip to Hawaii.
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-> There are multiple posts on DU with current coverage of Australia's severe bushfires. Look in LBN, Latest Breaking News and E/E, the Environment & Energy Group.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127134587



https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142410744

[DanieRains]

1. Its Climate Change You Imbecile

How much $$ do you get from coal??????

[greenjar_01]

10. And if the Blue Sky Mining Company won't come to my rescue...

[Aussie105]

2. Hurray!

My grand daughter can finally return home, after 3 days in the same clothes!
(Lobethal, South Australia was evacuated. Power will be off once she gets home.)

We drove up there last weekend, it was green and still lush despite little rain. I dread to see what it looks like now.

Closer to home - in my back yard - my chilli crop is failing dismally. No growth to speak of in the cooler weather, then 44 degrees C for 4 days killed them right off. Only 2 years ago, I had brilliant croppings without too much effort.
Don't need to convince me climate change is real and happening rapidly.

Meanwhile, coal fired power stations keep keeping on, and drilling for oil has commenced off the shores of the Nullabor plain, west of us.
And on a global scale, plane travel is more popular than ever.
Got to hand it to the human race - slow learners, all of us.

[roamer65]

3. Southern Hemisphere summer begins in about 40 minutes.

All of these fires are raging in Australia and summer is just beginning.

[progree]

4. Yes, solar-wise, it's the equivalent of June 21 in the N. hemisphere

with the N. hemisphere equivalent of July and August yet to come.

[roamer65]

5. Unless they get rain...lots of rain...it's gonna be more equivalent to hell.

God be with them down under.

[progree]

6. And all of this with just a one degree C increase in average global temperature

What will it be like with two degrees, three degrees?

Kind of illustrates that a small shift in the mean of a distribution greatly changes the probabilities / frequencies at the tails of the distribution.

[roamer65]

7. From 1.5 to 2C...major disruptions to global food production.

At 3C, billions will be gone.

Read that from a post here today. Sounds like that is what the scientists are projecting.

[rpannier]

8. The Mayor Quimby down-under on a national level

That this twit is PM along with il douche as president and boris as a pm says how badly we've fallen as a civilization

[greenjar_01]

9. Won surprise upset election contrary to most pre-election polling

[Aussie105]

11. Like most Australians,

I don't give a stuff which party is in power, and who the leader is. But can we have some effective leadership, please?

We appear to have taken a lesson from America, vote in a party with a 'jocular, good guy' at the helm.

Our fearless leader has returned to Australia from his holiday, early. So all is well, right? Wrong!

His attitude to climate change is, kinda like . . . problem? What problem? Let's deal with it later! Plenty of time! Let's deal with the drought - here, farmers, have some money - and the fires? Here, firefighters, have some . . .oh, but no! They are all volunteers!

Portray him as an ostrich with his head stuck up his . . . err buried in the sand, and you are close. But hey, he is busy being the jovial good guy, leave the problems to the next government. Problem solved! Or just ignored?