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AUSTRALIA-FIRE-CLIMATE-POLITICS
Aussie PM breaks silence on ‘troubling’ smoke crisis
SYDNEY, Dec 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Facing angry street protests and mounting
political pressure, Australia’s prime minister on Thursday broke a long
silence to acknowledge “troubling” bushfire smoke that has engulfed his
native Sydney for more than a month.
“I’ve lived all my life, pretty much, in Sydney and the haze that has come
from those fires, I know has been deeply troubling to Sydneysiders,” he said,
ending weeks of studied silence.
On Wednesday up to 20,000 people — many wearing face masks — marched in
Sydney, demanding Prime Minister Scott Morrison address directly the crisis
that has caused health problems to spike and forced residents indoors.
Hours later the conservative leader insisted he understood the concerns of
greater Sydney’s five million residents, who have been coughing and
spluttering through thick smoke off-and-on since October.
“I know how unusual it is to see that haze across my city. And I know how
distressing that has been, particularly for young people, who wouldn’t have
seen that before,” he said.
He also made a rare admission that climate change is one of the “factors”
causing unprecedented bushfires that have destroyed millions of hectares of
land, more than 700 homes and caused toxic smoke to bathe Australia’s largest
city.
“The dryness of the bush is the biggest factor,” he said noting a long
drought in some areas. “And we all know climate change, along with many other
factors, contributes to what is occurring today.”
Until now Morrison’s public comments have focused almost exclusively on
solidarity with sparsely populated rural communities hit by the fires
directly.
A recent poll by Essential Research showed Morrison’s disapproval rating
had risen from 36 percent in September — when the bushfire crisis began in
earnest — to 43 percent today.
Climate is a vexed political issue for Morrison’s Liberal party.
While he once jokingly paraded on the floor of parliament with a lump of
coal to show it was not harmful, former leader Malcolm Turnbull broke ranks
to demand the party embrace renewable energy and show more leadership. Any
move to significantly reduce Australia’s carbon emissions or curb coal
exports could damage Morrison in conservative-voting mining communities,
split his party and risk tipping a fragile economy into crisis.
Australia’s lucrative mining industry accounted for more than 70 percent
of exports and was worth a record Aus$264 billion ($180 billion) in the last
financial year.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1026 hrs