You idiot! Bushfire victims outrage at Aussie PM
Smoke billowing above a hillside in Victoria
AUSTRALIA’S beleaguered prime minister Scott Morrison was branded an “idiot” yesterday as he confronted angry victims of the country’s raging bushfires.
They forced him to cut short his trip to ravaged township Cobargo in New South Wales where two people died this week.
The human toll stood at 18 last night with fears that more bodies will be found. At least 17 are missing and more than 1,300 homes have been destroyed
Environmental experts estimate that almost half a billion animals have also been killed in the wildfires, including 8,000 koalas.
Mr Morrison had to cut short a family holiday to Hawaii last month after facing furious criticism for taking a break during the worst bushfire season in Australia’s history.
Yesterday in Cobargo he faced the full fury of residents.
One called him an “idiot” and a man shouted: “You won’t be getting any votes down here, buddy. You’re out, son.”
A woman called out: “How come we only had four trucks to defend our town?What about the people who are dead, prime minister? What about the people who have nowhere to live?”
Mr Morrison said later: “I understand the very strong feelings people have, they’ve lost everything, and there are still some very dangerous days ahead.”
He warned that the fires will burn for “many, many months unlike a flood, where the water will recede”. He said: “In a fire like this, it goes on and it will continue to go on until we can get some decent rain.”
As he spoke, more than 200 bushfires were raging across New South Wales (NSW) andVictoria.
Forecasters warned of worse to come because temperatures above 104F (40C) and strong winds are due at the weekend.
The NSW government declared a week-long state of emergency from today and ordered tourists to leave a 155-mile zone along the south coast.
Queues
State transport minister Andrew Constance described it as the “largest mass relocation of people out of the region that we’ve ever seen”.
Thousands tried to follow the order but cars were bumper to bumper on the few roads still open. Huge queues built up at petrol stations with supplies rapidly running out.
In Mallacoota, NSW, where 4,000 fled to the beach to escape the fires, a military evacuation is due to begin.
An Australian landing ship, HMAS Choules, is in position and is expected to take about 800 to safety today.
Ship commander Scott Houlihan said leaving by boat was the only way out of the town.
Cafe owner Michelle Roberts, who hopes her 18-year-old daughter will get on the ship, said of the town’s plight: “It is hell on Earth. It is the worst anybody’s ever seen.”
The fires, which have affected almost every state, have destroyed 12 million acres – an area twice the size of Wales – with a devastating toll on the country’s wildlife.
Nature Conservation Council ecologist Mark Graham told parliament of the plight of koalas: “They really have no capacity to move fast enough to get away.
“The fires have burned so hot and so fast that there has been significant mortality of animals in the trees. There is such a big area now that is still burning that we will probably never find the bodies.”
Meanwhile 1,200 miles away smoke from the wildfires has turned the snow on the Franz Josef Glacier on New Zealand’s south island brown.
HIGH temperature records were broken eight times in the UK during the past decade.
The peaks were compared to one lowest cold point during the same period, the Met Office said yesterday.
The records, dating back 110 years, include four last year. The trough was in the Beast from the East on March 1, 2018 when a lowest daily maximum of -4.7C was set at Tredegar in Blaenau Gwent.
Dr Mark McCarthy, of the National Climate Information Centre, said: “It is notable how many of these extreme records have been set in the most recent decade – and how many more of them are reflecting high rather than low temperature extremes: a consequence of our warming climate.”
The levels follow a trend with the 10 warmest marks occurring since 2002. The 2010s were the second warmest decade, beaten by the preceding decade.
POLLUTION is around 15 times worse on London’s Tube, a study found.
King’s College London evaluated exposure in the first comprehensive survey.
Researchers found that fine particles linked to many health issues were far more concentrated than on buses or in cars.
Typical measures on the Victoria and Northern lines were greater than on subway systems in the US, China, Australia, South Korea or Spain.
The worst stations were Oxford Circus, Waterloo and London Bridge. The District Line and the Docklands Light Railway, with large sections above ground, had the lowest levels.
Fine particles are believed to impact heart disease, stroke and lung cancer.
Lead author Dr David Green said: “Clearly, measurements above ground don’t represent what people are exposed to on the Underground.”