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NSW fires live updates: homes lost after bushfires rage through Blue Mountains, south coast and near Sydney – latest
NSW bushfires: PM concedes link between extreme weather and climate change but says Coalition has 'sensible' targets – live
(32 minutes later)
Victoria and South Australia also under renewed bushfire threat as New South Wales surveys damage from ‘catastrophic’ fire conditions on Saturday. Follow the latest news and updates
Victoria and South Australia also under renewed bushfire threat as New South Wales surveys damage from ‘catastrophic’ fire conditions on Saturday. Follow the latest news and updates
The prime minister will head to Picton after the Sydney RFS briefing, to meet with evacuees.
This is not exactly a glowing defence of the deputy prime minister.
Here is what the government has spent:
Q: Why were questions referred to your office why couldn’t McCormick simply say he was acting?
There is a lot of commentary over how prepared Australia was for this bushfire season. The fire authorities said they did all the preparations they could - including hazard reduction burns, but the group of former fire chiefs who came to prominence at the beginning of this season (which started early) said they wanted to talk about how to prepare for this new normal.
Morrison:
Paul Karp has found Labor’s bushfire policy from the election, given this debate.
Question: But you knew about these catastrophic fire conditions. Are you sorry to the residents?
The bushfire season in Australia is lengthening and already overlapping with the northern hemisphere, increasing the risk that we won’t be able to access the aircraft we need at times of peril.
Morrison: I already said that. I already said it.
At the same time, the Federal Government’s contribution to the National Aerial Firefighting Centre has plummeted from 50 per cent of funding to just 23 per cent, reducing our overall firefighting capability.
Q: Do you believe that the release of the information about this was handled poorly in the public needed to know?
The Bureau of Meteorology has identified this summer as Australia’s hottest on record, which included devastating bushfires in Victoria and Tasmania. Now is the time to invest in giving our firefighters the resources they need to keep us all safe.
Morrison: The deputy minister was the acting prime minister and each time I have taken private family leave as Prime Minister I followed exactly the same process. There was no change.
Labor’s national firefighting package will deliver:
On my earlier leaves no statement was issued. I took private family leave and no objections were raised by the press on those occasions but it is something we will rectify.
$80 million to establish the National Aerial Bushfire Fighting Fleet of aircraft
(No one knew he was leaving the country)
It will include retro-fitted Black Hawk helicopters as they are phased out from active use by the Australian Army and Erickson S-64 Air-crane helicopters (or ‘Elvis’ as they are commonly known) which has a 2,650 gallon tank capable of snorkelling or scooping fresh or salt water.
Question: Where have you been and why the secrecy?
It’s expected that the national fleet will include a standing capability of up to six Large or Very Large Air Tankers, and up to 12 heavy rotary wing helicopters.
Scott Morrison: I was in Hawaii, a trip with my family, a trip planned seven weeks ago and when I take family leave, it is a private family time.
Australia’s first ‘smokejumper’ units
And then the prime minister asks us to all be kind to each other:
Smokejumpers are firefighters trained to be rapidly deployed by helicopters at remote fires during the short window during which those fires can be contained.
Scott Morrison says he believes Australians are “fair minded” and will understand why he took his holiday.
Smokejumpers usually rappel from helicopters and use chain-saws, hoes and other dry firefighting tools to establish a containment perimeter around the fire. They then patrol the perimeter to ensure the fire does not jump containment lines while working with water-bombing aircraft to ensure the contained fire is fully extinguished.
And then we move on to power prices:
$21 million for the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC)
We are not going to beat our Paris target “in a canter”. Emissions are still rising in Australia and have every year since 2014, when the carbon charge was scrapped by the Coalition.
A Shorten Labor Government will stop the Federal Government’s reduction in funding for our firefighting capabilities by returning to a 50-50 funding split between the states and territories and the Commonwealth.
Scott Morrison on the climate change link debate:
Scott Morrison’s return to Australia last night has brought him back on deck a day before he was scheduled back to work - the PMO told reporters, including Samantha Maiden, that Morrison would be back to work on Monday, late last week
He moves on to the anxiety he says he sees the community dealing with:
At least one person died in the Adelaide Hills fire which blazed last night, with another reported missing. More than 50 people have been injured - including 23 firefighters and two police officers. At least 15 homes have been destroyed, with about 30 other structures having also been consumed by the fire.
Scott Morrison moves into addressing the issues which have exploded since he left on his holiday:
But with residents only returning to take stock of the damage today, the number of structures destroyed is expected to rise.
Scott Morrison continues:
The government has announced the disaster recovery payment has been extended to South Australia.
Scott Morrison:
Claims will be open from Monday 23 December 2019. For more information or to make a claim visit www.humanservices.gov.au/disaster or call 180 22 66.
The prime minster is now addressing the media.
Scott Morrison has not yet addressed the media - but here is what he had to say to the RFS at Sydney headquarters.
If you can, you should watch this with the sound on. The firefighters all remain so calm, despite what they are facing. The “got this” at the end just sums up everything about how our volunteers are handling this.
Mike Bowers was at the Green Wattle Creek fire last night.
Here is some of what he saw
Good morning. It is another day of watch and wait as fire fighters across the east coast and south Australia keep a very, very close eye on what
Emergency-level fires have swept across parts of New South Wales and South Australia, and the death toll and number of injured firefighters has risen, as the country’s severe heatwave and bushfire crisis continued on Saturday.
Two people were confirmed dead in South Australia, and homes were destroyed and communities evacuated in what authorities described as “an awful day” in which fires raged across three states, even creating their own thunderstorms in some parts of NSW.
At Lithgow, about two hours’ drive west of Sydney, residents were forced to flee as fires threatened the community of more than 10,000 people and destroyed several homes on the outskirts of the town. At 7pm, a person was reported unaccounted for in the Dargen area, near Lithgow, the ABC reported.
Four firefighters in NSW were treated for heat exhaustion on Saturday, the ambulance service said, while another firefighter was reportedly injured after being struck by a truck in Richmond.
Scott Morrison has returned to Australia - he flew in late last night.
He is starting the day with a briefing with the New South Wales rural fire service headquarters in Sydney.
