Prime Minister Scott Morrison has finally put boots on the ground in fire-ravaged parts of the country, whether he’s wanted there or not. Footage emerged yesterday of Morrison grabbing the hand of a dejected local in Cobargo yesterday who didn’t want a bar of him, and he went and bloody done it again to a firefighter who absolutely did not want to shake his hand.
At the town on the far south coast of NSW, Morrison dropped in to the Rural Fire Service sheds and was filmed by the ABC grabbing the hand of a firefighter even after the man had said that he didn’t want to shake the Prime Minister’s hand.
Gosh this is so awkward. Australian PM Scott Morrison goes to try and shake the hand of a firefighter who does not appear keen. (The PM was abused earlier by angry locals) Filmed by @GregNelsonACS @abcnews #AustraliaBurning #NSWbushfires #SouthCoastFires pic.twitter.com/3zjeJp3jWe
— Sophie McNeill (@Sophiemcneill) January 2, 2020
Bloody hell Scott, just leave it alone. Stop DOING this, for Christ’s sake.
It’s understood that the firefighter – who picked up his mug and left the room while Morrison made phenomenally awkward smalltalk with the other RFS crew – is a local Cobargo man who had lost a house in the huge fires on December 31.
The second firey picking up his cuppa to avoid a handshake is ????
— ???? anna sparka-riot ???? (@annaspargoryan) January 2, 2020
After the forced handshake, Morrison apologised to another RFS member, accepting that he was probably “a bit tired”, and was informed that the firie had lost property in the fires.
Shortly after the non-handshake:
PM: “Tell that fella I’m really sorry, I’m sure he’s just tired.”
Local incident controller: “No no, he lost a house.”#AustraliaBurning #ausfires #nswfires pic.twitter.com/9PodUTCf9z— Siobhan Heanue (@siobhanheanue) January 2, 2020
But not to worry folks, he’s not giving up after yesterday’s incidents where he looked like a right bumbling fool doing not much more than getting in the way and essentially showing up only to do a bit of damage control for his own public image.
Morrison’s headed to Lucknow in Victoria’s east Gippsland region, where I’m sure he’ll face more locals who have been ravaged by bushfires and also probably don’t want to shake his hand, either.
oh gawd, Scotty is going to have another go at it. pic.twitter.com/UoxYrrhbEc
— Chris Dobespierre (@dobes) January 2, 2020
Good luck Scotty, but also maybe just leave the check-ins up to people with more experience in being genuinely empathetic to those who’ve lost literally everything they own in devastating bushfires, hey.
Image: ABC / Greg Nelson
