Prime Minister Scott Morrison has, on January 2nd, managed to take some time out of his busy party and backyard cricket schedule to front Australian media, where he has asserted that one of the real tragedies of the on-going, cataclysmic fire catastrophe is milk that’s had to be poured out.
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Morrison and Minister for Water Resources David Littleproud fronted media a short time ago for a large and at-times rambling press conference in a bid to quell rising fury from the public in regards to the complete lack of visible action from the Morrison Federal Government as the fire issues have worsened and the associated death toll has risen.
Remarkably enough, the Prime Minister singled out the NSW town of Cobargo, which was virtually flattened as the fire front swept through the town just before New Year’s. Rather than suggest that people losing their homes, and even their lives, Morrison suggested that the biggest tragedy for Cobargo was dairy farmers having to pour milk down a hill due to blackouts shutting off refrigerated storage.
“In particular, down in Cobargo and places like that, where dairies have been milking and they simply have to pour the milk down the hill because of the lack of power to those areas at this time. That is the tragedy of what is occurring as a result of these disasters.”
In a remarkably defensive and at times visibly angry appearance, Morrison repeatedly passed the buck of immediate fire response onto the states – though he did assert Commonwealth assistance was being made available whenever it was needed.
The Prime Minister was repeatedly grilled on the links between climate change and the conditions that have severely exacerbated fire conditions, and it was on this issue that he became visibly annoyed.
Tersely, he snapped “What we will do is make sure our policies remain sensible, that they don’t move towards either extreme, and stay focused on what Australians need for a vibrant and viable economy, as well as a vibrant and sustainable environment. Getting the balance right is what Australia has always been able to achieve.”
Shortly after that, he closed his response off with a curt “thank you very much,” before storming off and ending the press conference.
The Prime Minister did not field any question, nor did he provide comment on, his extraordinarily ill-timed Hawaii holiday, nor his reported past 24 hours spent entertaining a variety of guests at Kirribilli House.
All in a day’s work for Scotty, folks.
