Scott Morrison Controversy: Australian PM Chooses To Vacation Instead Of Helping Forest Fire Victims

Scott Morrison, who served as Australian Prime Minister for the 2018-2022 era. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - A great forest fire hit various parts of Australia at the end of 2019. The disaster made the whole of Australia panic no joke. Those who fled were piled up. Those who lost their homes are no less sad.

The Australian people asked the government to immediately step in to help those affected by the fire. Instead of stepping in immediately, the Prime Minister (PM), Scott Morrison is actually busy on vacation to Hawaii, United States (US). This condition made the whole of Australia angry with him.

Climate change is often a hot topic in various parts of the world. The increase in the earth's temperature is due to human activities that ignore the environment and carry disaster, from rising sea levels to uncertain weather.

The bad news, as predicted by experts, is that climate change will exacerbate disasters. In the past, it could be a disaster such as floods and forest fires could be quickly handled. Even then, disasters are not present every year. However, now everything is not easy to deal with.

This condition is getting worse if the government of a country is not serious about mitigating disasters in order to reduce the impact of disasters. Take, for example, the great forest fires that hit Australia. The forest fires were triggered by rising temperatures and extreme drought in the state of New South Wales in October 2019.

The narrative can trigger forest fires that reach 300 hotspots. As a result, the fire spread everywhere, from Queenland to Tasmania. The air temperature can reach 44.4 degrees Celsius. This condition was exacerbated by blowing strong winds and rain never fell.

Like it or not, forest fires spread everywhere. As a result, Austalia people became victims. Those who fled were piled up. Those who lost their houses especially. The house that was destroyed because the red rooster was swept away reached thousands.

Not to mention the endangered flora and fauna because their habitat is destroyed. Many Australian endemic animals such as Koala died. As a result, the Australian people have lost hope. Everything is because the Australian government, which should be able to take precautions, is considered a failure.

Their response was slow until the fire spread freely everywhere. This failure is a blessing that must be accepted by victims who are affected by forest fires.

"What happens to a koala caught in a fire is that they climb up a tree and curl up like a small ball. If a fire passes quickly and only burns their hair, they will be fine because the fur will grow again."

"But if the fire gets bigger and continues to burn trees, the koalas won't survive. They will die," said Port Macquarie President Koala Hospital, Sue Ashton, as quoted on the website.com, October 30, 2019.

The Australian government certainly does not remain silent. They tried to move to extinguish the forest fires. Firefighters are trying to work optimally, by land and air. They tried to extinguish the fire. However, the fire fighting effort was not optimal.

The Australian people saw everything because of Scott Morrison's actions. The Australian PM is known to have cut fire funds in New South Wales. The option has a big impact because fires in New South Wales are spreading everywhere.

Instead of Scott coming to improve things, he returned to the Australian people's condemnation. This condition is because Scott chose to take a leave and vacation to Hawaii in December 2019. This condition is considered by the Australian people as an act of a coward.

The Australian government had refused to speak up. They consider Scott's news on vacation to Hawaii as fake news. Scott also revealed the same thing. As a result, the response made the tagas #Whothebloodyhellareyou and #WHEREsScotty trend on social media.

There are also those who make posters as if Scott's people are missing and ask the public to look for him. Later Scott has finally appeared to give a response as evidence of him taking a vacation to Hawaii in December 2019. Scott apologized to the Australian people and shortened his vacation.

This apology is not easily accepted by the Australian people. Even though Scott had chosen blusukan to places affected by forest fires. Scott was not accepted. Instead of getting a speech. He got cursed from here and there.

Like Scott's cursing is often heard. People also threatened that Scott would not get their votes during the election. Those Scott came to immediately drive him away: You are not welcome here.

"I regret if I have offended Australians affected by forest fires, because of my decision to take a day off with my family at this time. I still get the latest reports regarding fires, as well as the search and treatment of victims of the tragedy in White Island (voluntary eruption in New Zealand)," Scott said as quoted on the website.com, December 20, 2019.