SYDNEY: Under-fire Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday rejected calls for “reckless” and “job-destroying” cuts to the country’s vast coal industry in the face of a deadly climate-fuelled bushfire crisis.
Morrison’s conservative government has fiercely defended the lucrative coal industry in Australia, which produces a third of global coal exports and provides work in key swing electoral districts.
“I am not going to write off the jobs of thousands of Australians by walking away from traditional industries,” Morrison told the Seven Network, in one of several morning interviews rejecting calls for further action.
“What we won’t do is engage in reckless and job-destroying and economy-crunching targets which are being sought,” he told Channel 9, responding to calls for more climate-friendly policies.
Morrison’s media blitz came as he sought to limit the political fallout from a much-criticised Hawaiian holiday — taken as bushfires destroyed an area the size of Belgium and unleashed toxic smoke into Australia’s major cities.
Holiday plans have been hit, with national parks closing camp sites and the main coastal road linking Sydney with southeastern beach towns again shuttered due to the impact of fires.
Conditions eased markedly on Monday, but authorities said in the last few days almost 200 homes have been damaged by fires in South Australia and New South Wales.
Authorities said little was left of the small town of Balmoral, southwest of Sydney, where 67-year-old artist Steve Harrison told public broadcaster ABC he had been forced to weather the fire from a make-shift kiln.
“I ran to my Ute (pick-up) but my garden was already on fire, the driveway was on fire, the road was on fire so I couldn’t evacuate,” he said. “The day before I had actually built myself a small kiln down the back — a coffin-sized kiln — just big enough for me to crawl inside.”
“I was in there for half an hour while the firestorm went over. It was huge, just glowing orange-red everywhere. Just scary. I was terrified.”
Bushfires occur frequently in Australia, but scientists say several weather phenomena have come together to make this spring-summer bushfire season among the worst on record. — AFP
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