The prime minister of Australia Scott Morrison has come under increasing criticism from politicians and members of the public alike as the country faces one of its most devastating bushfire seasons in recent history.
Having confounded the polls and political punditry in May last year to secure a third term for his Liberal-National coalition, Morrison’s leadership has come under serious strain for the way in which he has been seen to handle the current crisis.
In what has been seen as a PR disaster for the former PR man, Morrison had attempted to quell the backlash he was facing by visiting residents of Cobargo, New South Wales, a village that was devastated by fire on 31 December, killing a father and son and with significant damage to property.
Residents greeted the prime minister with heckling and verbal abuse. As he was quickly ushered away by his handlers with one local shouting out, “You won’t be getting any votes down here, buddy.” Andrew Constance, minister for transport in New South Wales and a member of Morrison’s Liberal Party said that the locals “gave him [Morrison] the welcome he probably deserved.”
With the fires becoming progressively worse in the build up to Christmas, Morrison had been on a family holiday in Hawaii and with increasing anger at his absence, protestors began to gather outside Kirribilli House in Sydney, the secondary residence of the prime minister. After several days, Morrison finally cut his holiday short and returned to Australia saying that he “deeply regretted any offence caused.”
In what has been seen as a poor display of leadership from Morrison and with the disaster far from over, many, not least in his own parliamentary party, will be questioning whether he will be able to survive politically in the long term. With Australia having had five prime ministers in just the past seven years, and with the government having a majority of just one in the House of Representatives, Morrison’s leadership will be under serious scrutiny by friend and foe alike.
At the time of print, this season’s fires have destroyed over 2,500 buildings (over half of those being private homes) and has killed at least 22 people with a further 28 missing.
