Prime Minister Tony Abbott has expressed his sorrow and sympathy to people hurt by the New South Wales bush fires, announcing he plans to visit at least one of the affected communities on Friday afternoon.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Speaking in Brisbane, Mr Abbott said that he wanted to convey the nation's sympathies to those who have lost homes, and to acknowledge that there has already been a loss of life ''and we fear more''. The Prime Minister will travel to the Winmalee Fire Station on Friday afternoon for a bush fire briefing.
''Australia is a country which is prone to natural disaster but every time it strikes, it hurts and we grieve for all of those who are now hurting because of what's happened in NSW," Mr Abbott said.
His comments come after Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt sparked a debate on the politicisation of the fires when he slammed Mr Abbott's move to repeal the carbon tax by arguing it put Australian lives at risk.
On Thursday, Mr Bandt tweeted: ''Why Tony Abbott's plan means more bushfires for Australia & more pics like this of Sydney'' with a picture of the smoke-ravaged city and a link to an opinion piece arguing the prime minister wasn't doing enough to protect Australians.
But Coalition MP Wyatt Roy on Friday used his own personal experience to warn off political debate about the link between bushfires and global warming as devastating blazes continue to rage throughout NSW.
The Queensland MP says he knows first hand how ''awful'' it is to have a home burn down – having lost his family home at the age of eight in a kitchen fire.
''It's something you can't even describe to people. And it probably hurts a lot more than people think it would. So I do think that it is probably the wrong time to be having a political discussion,'' Mr Roy told Fairfax Media's Breaking Politics program on Friday.
Mr Roy, 23, said the focus at the moment should be on supporting communities affected by the fires and helping them rebuild.
''I think it's important that if we are having this debate [about climate change] we're not doing it on the back of the suffering of so many people.''
Mr Bandt also wrote in an opinion piece at Guardian Australia: ''Donning a volunteer firefighter uniform for the media is a con if you're also helping start fires that put people's lives in danger. If our prime minister truly wants to protect the Australian people, he must help fend off dangerous global warming, the country's biggest ever threat. Otherwise, we'll be spending every Christmas holiday worrying about how many people will die.''
His remark sparked an online backlash, but Mr Bandt denied it was an act of political opportunism.
The member for Melbourne claimed Mr Abbott was failing his duty to protect Australians by refusing to talk about the consequences of climate change and its link to extreme weather events.
Greens leader Christine Milne has also made the link between the fires and climate change, posting on Friday: ''IPCC says more fires, hottest winter leads to horrific early NSW fires, Abbott boasts dumping climate action, time to face nation.#auspol.''
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said had spoken to NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell, telling him that matters such as the fires were "above politics".
He said that the pain for people who had lost their house was "unimaginable". The thoughts of the Labor were with the people of NSW, he told reporters in Canberra.
Mr Shorten said it was not the right time to debate possible links between the bush fires and climate change.
"Today is a day about thousands of people trying to work out what it all means and are they OK," he said.
When asked if Mr Bandt's tweet was appropriate, he said he would not "politicise the issue".
Speaking to Fairfax Media on Friday morning, Mr Roy said that when his home burnt down, the family lost ''absolutely everything''.
He said moving on was harder than he originally thought.
''When it happens in the beginning you think these are just material possessions . . . Your immediate logical response is 'OK, we move on.' ''
But the member for Longman explained it was very difficult not to have a place to call home.
''I really am thinking of the families in NSW today,'' he said.
Mr Roy also stuck by the government's Direct Action plan, saying it would reduce emissions by the target of 5 per cent by 2020.
This comes as the Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox warned there was a risk that the direct action policy would ''underperform'' in an opinion piece in The Australian Financial Review on Friday.
With AAP
