AUSTRALIAN PM FACES CRITICISM AS FIRES FORCE MASS EVACUATIONS.
Australian PM slammed over handing of fires
PERTH • The Australian prime minister was heckled out of a fire-ravaged town in New South Wales Thursday as a mass evacuation in the state got under way ahead of worsening conditions.
Video of the visit to Cobargo, in the state’s southeast, showed Scott Morrison insist a woman shake his hand as she criticized him over the government’s response to the crisis.
“I am only shaking your hand if you give more funding to the RFS (Rural Fire Service),” she said as he turned away. “So many people have lost their homes. We need more help.”
The prime minister was soon ushered to his car by aides when other residents began shouting at him.
“You won’t be getting any votes down here, buddy,” one called out.
Anger over the government’s handling of the crisis has grown since the outbreak of the country’s worst wildfires on record, which have so far killed at least 18 people, including nine since Christmas Day, and destroyed 1,400 homes.
In Cobargo, a 29-year-old dairy farmer and his father, 53, were killed earlier this week as fires swept through the village.
In the small south coast New South Wales town of Quaama, in the Bega Valley Shire, a firefighter refused to shake Morrison’s hand when the prime minister visited.
After the encounter, Morrison said to a local incident controller, “Tell that fella I’m really sorry, I’m sure he’s just tired,” to which the official replied: “No, no, he lost a house.”
In the most recent New South Wales budget, Morrison’s party cut $11.7 million in expenses from Fire & Rescue NSW, while the Office of NSW Rural Fire Services — a service run by volunteers — lost $24.2 million in expenses.
The prime minister has rejected recent calls to professionalize the largely volunteer bush firefighting services across the country, and for several weeks of the crisis refused to commit to additional funding before eventually announcing a one-off boost of $10 million for water bombers.
New South Wales declared a state of emergency yesterday and told tourists to leave a 250-kilometre stretch of its southern coast as temperatures were expected to reach 40 C on the weekend.
University of Sydney ecologists estimate almost half a billion mammals, birds and reptiles have been lost this fire season, with the toll expected to rise.
On Thursday, at least 17 people were reported to be missing across Victoria.