Australian PM apologizes for family vacation during wildfire crisis

The head of state ought to be at the scene of a national emergency such as the raging bush fires in Australia. I'm amazed that Scott Morrison, who openly professes Christianity, chose to vacation in Hawaii while his country burns. That was a disgrace of a decision. He's not acting like a Christian and he now has a lot of work to do to convince the public that he genuinely cares about them and is not just a limousine politician.

He fiddles while Rome burns. Dereliction of duty. He should resign.

Whether to take a holiday or not is probably open to debate, but in a time of ongoing disaster, holidaying somewhere "at home" would possibly have been the better option.

On Aust. ABC news an interesting view point on this was put by a local govt / emergency official in one of the devastated fire zones. She said while national govt help is essential, often the presence of top officials at the actual scenes causes problems. They need to be "looked after" and fairly so. Security requirements are high, police, officials and other services which are desperately needed are diverted, if only for a short time.

In this modern era govt leaders can be kept up to date with everything, while staying away. The media needs to emphasize this and not read it as a sign of indifference or an uncaring act.

@browny1

I agree with your view.

@browny1

..... while national govt help is essential, often the presence of top officials at the actual scenes causes problems. They need to be "looked after" and fairly so. Security requirements are high, police, officials and other services which are desperately needed are diverted, if only for a short time.

Good point.

Then he should have remained in the country close by and in regular touch with emergency services leadership, visiting and comforting survivors, the recovering in hospital, those who lost homes, etc. His vacation was a complete dereliction of his duties as leader of the nation.

Scott Morrison is a Christian. I think his pastor needs to give his congregant a fiery sermon loaded with scripture on compassion for the suffering.

There's nothing that turns people off Christianity more than seeing its adherents in positions of power behaving hypocriticaly like Mr. Morrison has done here.

Being Christian does not mean he should have acted better in this case, most often Christians

make the wrong decision. Like supporting the invasion of Iraq. 100% wrong and nearly at 100%

support by Christians. Christians support Trump at 80% plus today. A man who pays off prostitutes.

No, being Christians leads to immoral behavior and stupid decisions like this one to leave

his home country during a massive natural disaster to sip tropical drinks and get sand between

his toes. Perhaps God told him to go on holiday, in his mind.

Thoughts and Prayers, and a lump of coal. He has nothing more to offer. Own it Australia.

Concerned citizen:

I think his pastor needs to give his congregant a fiery sermon

I believe "fiery" is not what the congregation wants.

Concerned Citizen:

The head of state ought to be at the scene

Not sure if you intended, but that would be Queen Elizabeth, represented in Australia by His Excellency, Governor-General David Hurley. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is the head of govt.

I'm torn on my opinion of his leaving. He did promise his kid. I'm sure parents will sympathize.

concerned citizen:

Then he should have remained in the country close by and in regular touch with emergency services leadership, visiting and comforting survivors, the recovering in hospital, those who lost homes, etc.

The PM should ask the governor-general to do this as well, especially if he were away.

He couldn't win. Either his wife would hate him or 50% of Australians would. How much effort did his wife put into planning this family vacation?

It isn't like he's making any day-to-day decisions about fighting those fires. I wouldn't want a politician showing up for a photo-op after my house was burned to the ground. That would seem slimy to me.

They do have telephones and video conferencing in Hawaii, BTW. He was never out of touch.

Just one more cynical elite dude. He had no shame to destroy Nixon for doing 1% of what he does himself. He did not even have the balls to tell the citizens he was fleeing the smoke, they discovered it by chance and instagram...

He did promise his kid.

Did he ? He makes them pass for insensitive spoilt brats that wouldn't care that lands twice larger than Hawaii have just burnt. He even exposes them to bullying.

I'm sure parents will sympathize.

That should talk to all the parents that have the time and money to promise to their kids 2 holidays abroad per 6 months.

I want to thank the Prime Minister for visiting Hawaii. Come back soon and do the hula dance.

Appalling apathy to the people he's supposed to serve

I think it is appalling that Mr. Morrison went to Hawaii whilst his country was suffering huge losses , even one former Prime Minister Mr Abbot was on the front line assisting , whilst I do not like him I have great respect for his efforts and compassion whilst the incumbent one

was absent . A reliable military serving source told me he even took a C130 to Hawaii and the mainland US for drinks . That aircraft could have been used to carry supplies , people and equipment to areas in dire need , I think that is even worse ! Why cannot the

" Leader " of Australia take a Qantas flight or even Australia's Air Force One equivalent ,

after all it was a " Family " holiday and I agree with @concerned citizen . even our own Prime Minister and the Emperor Emeritus showed up at the disasters that befell our country . I think he should resign also but that would be a further embarrassment to the good people of Australia . What has it been ? 6 Prime Ministers in in almost as many years ? Whilst Abe might not be perfect he is consistent , and the people have faith in him .

Concerned CitizenDec. 22 03:07 pm JSTScott Morrison is a Christian. I think his pastor needs to give his congregant a fiery sermon loaded with scripture on compassion for the suffering.

There's nothing that turns people off Christianity more than seeing its adherents in positions of power behaving hypocriticaly like Mr. Morrison has done here.

He is Christian in name only. He flaunts it around to get 'brownie points' and adulation and then pulls this egotistical stunt! Surely he knows the Commandment 'Love thy neighbor', does he not?

Yeah, he goes to Hawaii while Australia burns. Maybe the Aussie parliament can tell him, 'you are derelict n your duty and we're revoking your passport. Don't come back'.