Australian PM announces paid leave for public servant firefighters

SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday announced four weeks of paid leave for public servants taking time off to fight fires as volunteers, during his tour to fire-affected areas across the country. Morrison spoke to media in Mount Baker in South Australia, where ongoing fires have destroyed about 87 homes and 500 other buildings.

He began his tour to fire zones in New South Wales and on Monday (December 23) was given an aerial tour of the Gospers Mountain fire in the Blue Mountains region. Devastating bushfires have burnt more than 4 million hectares (9.88 million acres) of land across five states and killed nine people since September.

Uncontrolled fires are still burning in South Australia, after ripping through the state’s prominent wine region, and around the country’s largest city Sydney.

Calls for Morrison to resign have littered social media platforms after it was revealed he was holidaying in Hawaii while the country battled a bushfire emergency and his return has failed to douse the criticism.

Voters have taken to social media calling for leadership at a time of crisis, and along with some of the country’s political editors, have criticized Morrison’s refusal to take tougher action on climate change.

Similar to the criticism of US President Donald

Trump by American comedians, Morrison has been ridiculed on social media, portrayed as a deformed creature sitting in a burnt out forest on Christmas Day patting a lump of coal he calls “precious” to a flying superhero called “Bullshit Man”.

On Twitter yesterday, #NotMyPrimeMinister, #MorrisonMustGo and #ScoMoResign were the top trending topics in Australia after a viral video showed a volunteer firefighter, Jacqui, shaking hands with Morrison as she said “not my prime minister”.

“Jacquie is all of us,” Twitter user Yabba said. Another user @bugwannostra tweeted “she’s only saying what more than 12 million think...” The tweet prompted Morrison to issue a clarification on Tuesday. “Indeed, as Jacqui joked with me yesterday, I’m not her PM, because she’s British, Boris Johnson is,” he tweeted.

Devastating bushfires have burnt more than 4 million hectares (9.88 million acres) of land across five states and killed nine people since September. Uncontrolled fires are still burning in South Australia, after ripping through the state’s prominent wine region, and around the country’s largest city Sydney.

Hazardous smoke blanketed Sydney for days this month, heightening public anger and raising political pressure on the government to do more to battle climate change.

When it was revealed Morrison and his family had slipped away to Hawaii for a holiday voters became angry. On his return Morrison further inflamed his political critics by saying there would be no change to climate policy and denied suggestions of a split within his government after his deputy agreed more action was needed. He also ruled out holding a summit with the nation’s fire chiefs and compensation for thousands of volunteer firefighters who have battled blazes for months. — Reuters