rime Minister Scott Morrison reportedly made a dismissive comment to a fellow

Australian about the bushfire crisis while holidaying in Hawaii last week.
While being served cocktails at the beach on his getaway, the PM reportedly palmed off
the nation’s bushfire crisis as a “state issue”.
A tourist who took a picture of the Prime Minister relaxing on his Christmas break —
after he told media he’d rush back to Australia as quickly as he could — said he
approached Mr Morrison.
The tourist told 10 News he asked Mr Morrison whether was going home to “resolve the
bushfire situation”.
“His comment to me is that this was a state issue,” he said.
“He was quite happy to sit and have cocktails served to him when our firefighters are
doing it really hard.
“I think the man just has to have a step back and a bit of a check on himself.”

Peter van Onselen

✔@vanOnselenP

we spoke to the fellow who took the picture of the PM relaxing beachside after his radio
interview saying he was rushing home...
https://twitter.com/10NewsFirst/status/1208634391519531008 …

10 News First
✔@10NewsFirst
By @ScottMorrisonMP's own admission, it took the deaths of two firefighters to convince him to come home
from his Hawaiian holiday. | @vanOnselenP
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2:29 PM - Dec 22, 2019
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Upon returning from his break, the Prime Minister has posed for pictures with emergency
services and met the families of Geoff Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer — two Rural Fire
Service volunteers who were killed as they fought fires south of Sydney last week.
Appearing on Channel 7 breakfast show Sunrise this morning, the Prime Minister said he
was “focused on things back here (in Australia)” while he was away on holiday.
Defending his break, he said: “We all make decisions. You do as a parent, I do as a
parent, we have to balance our work-life responsibilities … we all try to get that right. We
can all make better decisions on occasions, and I was pretty upfront about that to
Australia.
“Whether it is a Friday afternoon and you are deciding to take that extra plumbing
contract and you said you would pick up the kids, at my level, these are things you juggle
as parents.”
He added that Australians should be “very proud” of what’s happening across the nation
now as firefighters tackle bushfires.
“These are the most co-ordinated best resourced, most amazingly fought set of fire
disasters our country has seen, and Australians should be very proud of what is happening
out there,” he said.
Scott Morrison copped criticism from the public for being away during the fire crisis. Picture: Twitter/Ben ParsonsSource:Twitter

Mr Morrison has defended his Christmas break. Picture: Twitter/Ben DownieSource:Supplied

He also said his government was serious on climate change.

“We have our $3.5 billion climate solution fund,” he said. “We will continue to see
renewable
investments come into our country.”
He also promised more action on reducing plastics and waste management.
However, he said he would not take action that harmed Australians’ employment
prospects.
“I am not going to destroy jobs which will only not change the temperature, but take
people’s livelihoods away,” Mr Morrison said.
“I’m going to maintain the course of responsible management, responsibly addressing the
changes of climate change and responsibly ensuring that we can grow our economy in
what is a very tough climate at the moment.”
The Prime Minister also rejected taking “reckless” climate action in an opinion piece
for The Daily Telegraph.
He wrote about how he Australia needed to take precautions to ward against future
bushfire diasters.