The Liar from the Shire, caught out again
In May 2016, when Scott Morrison was Treasurer, the National Aerial Firefighting Centre called for a “national large air-tanker” fleet to confront a growing bushfire threat. Despite a Senate inquiry backing the proposal, the government rejected it in September 2017, “noting that bushfire responsibility is a matter for each state and territory.”
Are firetrucks or planes to come to a screeching halt at the border? Do we ignore another state’s need to keep our resources in case we need them?
Smoko has defended his decision not to meet with former fire chiefs last year, who were also calling for more aerial firefighting capability, saying he chooses to listen to those ‘in their jobs now’.
Then up pops NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons who says the federal government has sat on a business case for a boosted national aerial firefighting fleet for at least 18 months.
Former fire chief Greg Mullins confirmed that.
“The Prime Minister keeps saying that whatever the fire chiefs request, they get, but that’s not true,” Mr Mullins said. “The business case has been on the desk for two years. Had the fire chiefs had certainty with the $25 million, we would have more aircraft in the sky.”
Last November, Mullins was saying that, not only had the government refused to meet with former fire chiefs, but those currently in the job were not included in discussions and were told not to mention global heating.
“This government fundamentally doesn’t like talking about climate change,” Mullins said. “We would like the doors to be open to the current chiefs, and allow them to utter the words ‘climate change’. They are not allowed to at the moment.”
Our leader (cough) has gotten the international attention he craved but I don’t think 2GB and the Murdoch rubbish are going to help this time.
Those who know are calling bullshit, Scotty.
And it’s only gonna get louder.
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Keitha Granville -
New England Cocky -
Kaye Lee -
Kerri -
Vikingduk -
Ivo -
Kaye Lee -
New England Cocky -
Robin Alexander -
Carol Taylor -
Vikingduk -
Ivo -
GraemeF -
Vikingduk -
James Cook -
Pete Petrass -
corvus boreus -
king1394 -
totaram -
Vikingduk -
Brad Black -
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johno -
David Evans -
Kathryn -
Phil Morris -
Kaye Lee -
Kaye Lee -
New Englnd Cocky -
Arthur Tarry -
Kaye Lee -
corvus boreus -
Kaye Lee -
Matters Not -
Kaye Lee -
John Boyd -
Ivo -
Kaye Lee -
paul walter -
Michael Taylor -
corvus boreus -
Khaled Elomar -
JudithW -
Roswell -
Lambchop Simnel -
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Kaye Lee -
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Eumundi Grandmother
Return to home pageIt HAS to get louder, we need to keep it growing for another two and a half years. People must not be allowed to forget that Scummo fiddled while the country burned.
Uhm It is reporter elsewhere on AIMN that McDermott Airlines has access to a VLAT water bomber on 24 hour call. Why have the NSW and federal governments failed to call on this asset?
An estimated 500 aircraft from more than 150 operators are available to the emergency effort this summer, according to an update from the National Aerial Firefighting Centre on Friday.
The centre has added one large DC-10 air-tanker in the past two months as well as four Airtractor planes and six Airtractor “Fireboss” aircraft capable of landing on water.
The states and territories contribute about $140 million to the national centre and some have added their own capabilities, with NSW arranging a Boeing 737 and a DC-10.
Mr Mullins called on Mr Morrison to contact leaders such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to seek access to aircraft such as the Canadair CL 415, a much bigger water-bomber than the Airtractors.
Can we just turn a blind eye while this bastard buggers off to some other country??
PERMANENTLY,!!
New England Cocky
Because surplus.
Yep, that’s right, NEC, local (Cooroy based) McDermott Aviation, in a joint agreement have access to the 747 VLAT capable of dropping 74,000 litres a load, can be here in 48 hours if requested.
Thanks Kaye – did you notice from The Guardian fire coverage yesterday that NSW assistant fire chief Rob … , when asked if he agreed with Bob Mullins that we need more serious aerial firefighting aircraft availability said ( in effect) ” NO, we don’t – we have ALL the resources we need now and can get water bombing aircraft from interstate if we need them. Too many water water bombers can get in each others way and can’t operate in heavy smoke.”
Then Today and yesterday the NSW premier assured us that we don’t need more ADF involvement and that we have never been so prepared for a catastrophic fire situation as we are now.
I guess no wonder the Murdoch press is downplaying the seriousness of the fires then, and dismissing climate change as “crap” if everything is under control ?. As Mr Morrison keeps assuring us – ” If you have a go you will get a go” ( no exceptions for those who have lost homes and loved family and pets?)
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced up to 3000 reservists will be dispatched across four states as bushfires rage across the east coast and in South Australia.
The government has also committed $20 million to lease four fire-fighting aircraft to be used in the coming weeks and months ahead of predictions of worse to come.
The helicopter-equipped HMAS Adelaide will join other Navy vessels already assisting in evacuations from fire-ravaged areas.
Several military helicopters will also be deployed.
Prayers not working?
Is it finally getting through that this is an emergency?
@Vikingduk: The RFS Fires Near Me” website https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me has the 22878 ha Mt Spirabo fire as “being controlled” by RFS at 10:31AM 040120. This is likely the “Bolivia fire” you describe.
0 ha fire at Mt Slow Rd, Mt Mitchell 2365 in Glen Severn Council area “being controlled” by RFS at 12:25PM 040120.
Now I must protest Vikingduk. It is most unfair of you to accurately describe the inactive posturing of the political representatives of the Lazy Nasty People misgovernment as “self serving, ego tripping psychopaths” during these distressing times when people are losing their homes, livelihoods and even their lives. Such comments should correctly be reserved for use by the silent Australians after the crisis is over ….. when nothing will have changed.
Now 1434 hours 040120 and ABC RN News has announced more aerial assets for fire control thanks to Scummo making the announcement. See Kaye Lee above and note no delivery date announced. Believe it when you see it.
After all his deflecting he could not call upon defence unless states requested of him they had not he stated only yesterday!today he announces in very fast talk mode he is deploying thousands & reservists plus ships planes hiring water bomber planes etc!etc! truly like over kill? Trying to save his Position to me! This after months weeks desperate appeals met by rejection been told the wolves gathering to dispose of him? Having personally done that action himself he is in fear for himself nobody else? Man is devoid Empathy! All destruction lost lives environment animals businesses some never recoverable this action now may have helped some what of the damage if applied earlier! To late really biggest damage is done!
This ‘we have all the resources we need’ is beyond ridiculous. If we did we wouldn’t have exhausted firies, country firefighters having to crowd fund for masks and eye drops, and we wouldn’t have this massive loss of property, habitat and wildlife. All you need to do is look out the window see the smoke we’ve been breathing for weeks to know we do NOT have the resources we need.
NEC, damn right, no time to be pointing out the obvious, though the chances of me becoming a silent Australian are aren’t good due to a mouth that insists, even though brain probably not in gear, of speaking up. Yep, I’ll believe it when I see it, too. One thing I don’t wish to view again is that sanctimonious shit eating messianic fcking smirk.
I guess by now even the drover’s dog acknowledges that we need a large number of serious aerial firefighting aircraft each capable of carrying several thousand litres of water to assist with firefighting in Australia. The current and previous fire chiefs throughout all Australian States have confirmed this. We keep getting updates telling us just how many aircraft are assisting with the firefighting effort, (e.g about 150 at present!) with never any details of how many of them are actually carrying water as distinct from other activities such as spotting fires. Most of the helicopters carry just about 2 x 44 gallon drums of water equivalent and are arguably pretty useless? The number of serious high capacity water bombers seems totally inadequate?
This is in stark contrast to the, in my view, TOTALLY disproportionate allocation of money for defense submarines and fighter aircraft, for arguably much less urgent purposes (several tens of BILLIONS of dollars allocated to date for who knows what useful ultimate purpose?) i.e. we spend in the order of 30 – 40 BILLION dollars for defense each year compared with maybe a tenth of a billion dollars on firefighting!
Anyway, it seems to me, as an informed armchair critic, that we need much more then more and better firefighting aircraft. It seems that the ubiquitous fire trucks have developed over the years to be effective for fighting fires in towns, but not in the bush? Presently we seem to have no tracked vehicles for firefighting away from roads? How about then, I ask, if we get a few heavy lifting helicopters to carry firefighting bulldozers to sites away from roads, where most bush fires originate? That is to say, design and outfit some tracked vehicles with fire proof cabins with air conditioning, smoke filtration, and pull down radiant heat reflecting screens. Super high powered water cannons controlled by the operator could easily and effectively spray water thousands of times more effectively and 100 times further than dragging heavy hoses to apply modest water pressure and volume by operators to only very nearby modest fires!. These serious tracked fire tankers could be constantly supplied with water by the sky crane helicopters bringing them to the fire site.
The other obvious need is for very rapid fire detection and response to get new fires under control rapidly. It is a bit primitive in this day and age to not be totally reliant on automated devices via satellites, radar and special detectors to spot new fires as soon as they are ignited, rather than wait until working hours after 9 am and a cup of coffee to send out a light plane next morning to detect them. Send out the sky crane with the tracked fire fighter vehicle, I say, and get the fires under control and totally extinguished before they develop into uncontrollable infernos a few days down the track?
It is treason to not act in accordance with the best scientific and expert advice.
Thanks for that info, NEC, seems a Fire has kicked off 7k from us. Now we wait.
Just saw some channel 7 reporters fawning over Scummo’s announcement as “unprecedented ” as if he’s the leader we need. Fcking vomitous! On a positive note, the southerly has just come through near Tathra/Bega so we are cooler and safer for the time being.
Kaye I note also that ScottyFromMarketing, when announcing the $20 million for 4 more aircraft, also bragged “they asked for 1, I gave them 4”.
VikingDuk,
Not good to hear.
Please stay sensibly safe, fellow pilgrim.
If we had all the resources we need, wouldn’t all the fires be under control?
When the immediate danger has passed, I want to see major upgrades to all the firefighting fleet with more modern reliable and safer vehicles to replace some of the literal death traps that the firies depend upon
king1394: And the guy who said they had all they need needs to be counselled perhaps? If they had all they need why is Scotty calling in so many extra resources? Some of these brown-noses need to be “taken out”. Disgraceful!
Corvus boreus
Cheers, our plan will always be bugout to the dugout. Bag packed, hard drives, passports, etc.
James Cook, good news, stay safe.
It was only a matter of time before scummo’s ‘quiet Australians’ began shouting.
$20 million offered by scummo today for aerial fire fighting is pathetic when you consider the countless billions spent just in case China invades us. Our biggest threat (after the damage done by the yankee paper boy and his ilk) is what we are witnessing. And there’s the generous subsidies to fossil fuel conglomerates, many of whom conspired (with the paper boy) to keep the global heating message covered up.
That’s scarily close, Vikingduk. Look after yourself.
Trump clamped down on climate speak big time. Scotty is just copying Don’s policy, as he is all but Don’s lapdog.
So the miracle man is really just a hollow shell? Time’s up, Smoko’s finished. Grab your Hawaii shirt, your top hat and cane, budgie smugglers and just go. Oh, and don’t forget to donate your pay towards the costs of the b/s advertising campaign you launched today. Goddam!
Peta Petrass, once again the callously inhumane sociopath, MorriScum, reveals his underlying delusions of grandeur! His comment when announcing the $20 million for 4 more aircraft, when he bragged “they asked for 1, I gave them 4” PROVES just how deep his TOTAL disconnection from reality really is! Morrison, YOU didn’t do a frigging thing! YOU didn’t provide the four (4) desperately needed aircraft, WE – the taxpayers of Australia – did! WE ARE THE ONES WHO PAID FOR IT – not YOU! YOU are the bastard “who cannot hold a hose”, remember? YOU are the one who sat on his pretentious arse and watched Australia BURN to the ground without lifting a FINGER to assist until such time that the RAGE against you became so LOUD and LONG, you were FORCED to make some snivelling, insincere gesture to try (and fail) to smooth things over! YOU and the self-serving fascists in the LNP are the ONLY leaders in the WORLD who stubbornly and stupidly REFUSE to acknowledge the clearly evident, scientifically proven effects of climate change. It is YOU who absolutely REFUSED to pour much needed taxpayer funding to compensate exhausted fire fighters and finance more fire fighting resources. NOW as a direct result of your DO NOTHING posturing, your climate-change-denying idiocy and your sneering, condescending arrogance and defiance against the advice of fire fighting professionals, that we find ourselves in the midst of a FIRE-DRIVEN HOLOCAUST unlike ANYTHING we have ever witnessed in living memory!
The catastrophic destruction of countless millions of hectares of bush, the tragic (and preventable) loss of precious lives, the heartbreaking loss of property, livestock and the existential loss of countless wildlife – it’s all down to YOU, Morrison! Your sickening attempts at trying to get victims of these horrific fires to shake your greasy palm for the sake of a cheap photo opportunity, your inappropriate contemptuous smirk whilst giving pompous, pontificating lectures and self-important monologues, the way you slink away to avoid ANY justified confrontation or anger so appropriately directed at YOU, the stone cold psychopath who has ZERO empathy and only ONE concern: your obsession about yourself and keeping your job as the most despised, totally inept, dangerously undemocratic and USELESS career political parasite in living memory!
Time for YOU to go back overseas, NoShow SlowMo, but THIS TIME make sure its on a ONE WAY TICKET to SIBERIA!
they didnt call for the water bomber because they didnt want the fire put out , they wanted the land cleared for the high speed rail system , and Breajiklian or what ever her name is , is already getting the ball rolling and the fires are still bloody burning
“Pity the poor #Australians, their country ablaze, and their rotten @ScottMorrisonMP saying, “This is not the time to talk about Climate Change. We have to grow our economy.” What an idiot. What good is an economy in an uninhabitable country? Lead, you f#ckwit!!” – Bette Midler
. @RFSCommissioner tells @TheTodayShow he wasn’t made aware of PM’s ADF commitment ahead of announcement. Shane Fitzsimmons says he was “disappointed” to hear through public announcements at the peak of the fire emergency yesterday.
“I found out about it via the media reports.
It is disappointing on one of our worst days this season to hear that announcement. Then have to try to work through on top of everything else what it means and how it is going to operate.
I spoke to the PM’s office last night in relation to my disappointment in the middle of a very busy day.”
@Phil Morris: THAT CONSPIRACY THEORY IS A TRUCK LOAD OF UNTHINKING ILL-INFORMED BOVINE MANURE!!!
The North Coast NSW forests that have burned by the multiple thousands of hectares are almost vertical and unsuited to any form of transport greater than goat tracks. Then there is the crossing of east west ridge lines, too many to really be suitable for Sydney Harbour style tunnels.
The very expensive Northern Inland Railway (NIR) runs across the flat western plains where you see the cars approaching you at about 6km range as roofs than grow down into vehicles. Barnyard Joke and his political campaign manager John “I’m a good Christian” Anderson have wangled about $700 MILLION TO DATE from the Lazy Nasty People misgovernment “helping out a mate” to build this NIR railway line that their own economic cost benefit analysis shows will NOT return the initial investment in under 50 years. Now consider an annual pay packet of 1% of government largesse.
Perhaps Phil, you could get out of your overcrowded, congested and polluted metropolitan ghetto and take a tour of urban regional centres which may encourage you to re-locate to the open spaces and clean air of regional Australia.
The ‘septics’ have just created a Space Force in preparation for space warfare. Should we create a national Fire Force to prepare for future huge bush fire-fighting efforts ?After all fires now look like being our most likely national threat.
“we can’t pretend that this is something that we have experienced before. It’s not.” – Gladys Berejiklian
GET THAT THROUGH YOUR HEAD YOU MORONS!!!
‘Authorised by S Morrison, Liberal Party, Canberra’
There is a bit of heat coming from the defence force watchdog over the breach of standards in the PM using ADF personnel and material resource in what amounts to an advertisement for a political party
The Australian Defence Association (ADA) — a public-interest watchdog of Australian defence matters — said on Twitter the video “milking ADF support to civil agencies fighting bushfires” was a “clear breach of the (reciprocal) non-partisanship convention applying to both the ADF & Ministers/MPs”.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-05/scott-morrison-criticised-for-political-ads-during-bushfires/11841458
“Wow. A self-promotional commercial with cheesy elevator music? This is one of the most tone-deaf things I’ve ever seen a country’s leader put out during a crisis. Shameless & shameful. ” – Piers Morgan
Apparently there was a donate to the Liberals button on the ad until twitter outrage made them realise that was a step too far and they removed it.
Even Mother Jones has it as a lead story. Will do wonders for the tourist industry. But perhaps the notion that: Any publicity is good publicity mightn’t hold true. Nevertheless, more USA column inches than Trump’s state dinner.
Statement from the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia
“Failure to accept and manage change and risk has been a key issue leading up to this disaster. We are concerned that the attitude from climate deniers that ‘this is normal’ and ‘nothing to see here’ means that we will continue to have that small number of government MPs with ideological beliefs and dented egos having too much say and too much influence. This will only hold us back from repair and regrowth.”
…We have for some time been trying to take the emotion out of the climate debate by talking about ‘change management and risk management’ but the small cadre of deniers in government ranks and elsewhere have refused to budge because they believe they are right and the rest of us are wrong.
They have denied anything has changed and when confronted with the common sense of preparing for the risk of fires and disaster they have turned deaf and refused to prepare for what always happens in Australia – bushfires, droughts and floods. Their denial is because they do not believe disasters occur any more often than in the past.
This intellectual indifference of the few has endangered us all. No successful business will ignore a risk as unlikely and will always prepare for any situation.”
https://www.cosboa.org.au/post/now-is-time-for-comprehensive-plans-and-fast-action-in-rebuidling
Kaye Lee…And I trust all those small business owners who think ‘I am in business, so I must vote Liberal’ read it. Fat chance!
BTW, I really appreciate your forensic analysis of so many issues.
I agree John Boyd regarding Kaye Lee’s forensic analysis talents. I have been reading her articles regularly for years but never commented until now. She is absolutely the best, the most analytical, the most interesting, the most up to date with information and the most amazing person at concisely cutting to the essence of the important issues of the day. She is also amazing in picking up on important information sourced from obscure publications and blogs that most of us would never be aware of.
Craig Kelly went on BBC radio a little earlier and said there was no link between climate change and these fires.
He was representing the government when he said it.
“Well firstly there is no link, the facts that cause the fires are the drought and the drying of the environment and on this our climate scientists down here have been very clear and they have said that there is no link between drought and climate change.”
Yet this morning, Scott Morrison said
“I have to correct the record here, I have seen a number of people suggest that somehow the government does not make this connection. The government has always made this connection and that has never been in dispute.”
And Gladbag has been not to request state of emergency for fear of offending THAT?
Meanwhile, Morrison just said that his party has always agreed that climate change and bushfires are linked. Perhaps they failed to inform Craig Kelly.
I reckon the Scomo should strap on some water-skis and do a jump over a caged shark, it would help him get his cool back.
He couldn’t spend that money on firefighting aircrafts. He needed to upgrade The Shark.
11:51 this morning the abc reported the pm as saying “the government has always connected climate change with fires” – just before he announced that “the scale of bushfire disaster is enormous” in case someone had missed that insight.
Judith, do you know if anyone at the ABC called him out on it?
Khaled, and how often does he get to use his flying hotel I wonder. Not what we’d call getting a “bang for your buck.”
Roswell, it is so sad how the ABC is coerced by spending cuts threats into being a mouthpiece for the government and its wealthy backers.
People now mock it as “Murdoch Media” which is a shame, since I have an impression that many principled people still work there and loath being used for purposes opposite to their beliefs.
Roswell, I don’t know if anyone called him out on it – the tv was on mute. I have a screenshot with his quote as “Breaking News”.
I notice the PM’s speech to the media was ignored as usual, in which he refuted Shane F’s comment by pointing out the report asked for 2 arial tankers both of which have been supplied to the tune of 22 million plus 4 more on order
Lambchop, I still see abc news which contradicts government policy eg..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-06/bushfires-climate-change-opportunity-to-change/11839530
Getting rarer, johno. Please let me know if it happens again so I can bask in the recollection of times past and what they meant.
Lambchop,
The ABC is still doing good work. One of my family members works for Four Corners. She has worked on the stories that led to at least four Royal Commissions so far. I keep telling her she is costing the country a fortune but I am really so proud of the work she does, sometimes at great personal emotional cost. She rang me and told me not to watch the program she did on aged care because of family circumstances. She then rang me to tell me that Scotty was going to call a RC into it the day before the program aired.
I hear he is now entertaining the idea of a RC into the bushfires.
Whether it is the banking sector, firefighting capability, aged care, action on climate change, marriage equality, Indigenous recognition, increasing Newstart – or a myriad of other neglected areas – Scotty has to be dragged kicking and screaming to react and it only ever happens when there is public outcry.
Religious freedom and union-bashing are his priorities. What does that say about risk management?
Speaking of which, P Duddy has been sitiing on a risk management plan for a couple of years whilst he has protected us from sick refugees
https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/emergency/files/national-disaster-risk-reduction-framework.pdf
Interesting PDF, got as far as Deloitte, half way, but have to go out shortly. If ever a set of comments belled the cat as to the fatal flaw in the dishonest and lazy LNP government. the refusal to consider downstream costs and complexities of recovery as part of a preparation mode it was that set.
I know the ABC tries desperately hard against the incessant interference from the government over many years, if I have a bone to pick it is that some news and CA seems to avoid exposing slapdash decision making, as we have seen over recent weeks and some of the dirtier politics involved, as has occurred involving the silencing of Berejiklian, et al.
Good interview with Joe O’Brien and Greg Mullins this morning. Joe did try a bit of weaselling diversionary stuff, but Mullins stuck to his guns and the result was an indictment of the clownish and spiteful government.
I guess with the ABC, I just get a bit worried that it is being browbeaten into not doing the hard yards you described re 4 Corners, et al, that in the end we have dictatorship in a information vacuum if the IPA Right gets its way, as seemed the case prior to the bushfires debacle. This opens up the possibility for the removal of the ABC as we know it through constant tabloid campaigns.
Lamchop.
There is definite editorial influence at the ABC. There are also some big egos. And there is a disproportionate and desperate need to appear “unbiased” resulting in IPA political hopefuls getting way too much air time.
I am horrified when an interview with a politician on 7:30 report gets cut short – we’re out of time – in order to give a simpering promotional interview with the latest celeb to hit town.
But, as with the old fairfax press, there are roses between the thorns.
In regards to the Morrison’s ADF political add, you can hear the tune on the Mps church website Horizon Church Sutherland, nice intro to a Pentecostal church, connections?
Every time they mention his name I CANNOT FORGET THAT HE CHEATED TO GET ELECTED