Published 15:35 IST, December 23rd 2019
Australian PM Morrison responds after Greta Thunberg criticises him
Australian PM Morrison has retaliated to Greta Thunberg's criticism for the country's government over its measures to tackle an unprecedented fire emergency.
- World News
- 3 min read
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has retaliated to Greta Thunberg's criticism of the country's government over its measures to tackle an unprecedented fire emergency. Morrison has said on December 23 that Australia and its government will set their priorities based on the national interests instead of impressing people who are overseas. Even though the Australian PM did not mention the 16-year-old in the recent press conference, he registered the government's critics yet again.
Morrison said, “It's not for me to make commentaries on what those outside of Australia think that Australia should do. We'll do in Australia what we think is right for Australia. And that has always been my guiding principle. I'm not here to try to impress people overseas. I'm here to do the right job for Australians and put them first.”
While Morrison assured that country leaders have been meeting to set the things in order and address things urgently, Australia is still battling a record-breaking heatwave. Thunberg said 'this has to change now' and questioned, 'how is this possible?' while referring to the political leaders who 'fail' to see the connection between the climate crisis and severe weather condition. The climate activist shared a clip by Australian news channel which showed the ring of fire around Sydney 'angry and frightening' saying that even such incidents have not brought about political action against the climate crisis.
Climate change policies criticised
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accepted criticism on behalf of his government's climate change policies. It was because of dry conditions that brought about an early start to the fires. Australia has also been criticised at the United Nations summit in Madrid because of its climate change measures as it uses old carbon credits to count future emission targets. After two fire responders lost their lives while trying to douse fires, Morrison said that he was aware of the fact and people were bound to get upset.
As firefighters battle against raging wildfires in Australia, massive bushfires were fanned across the state of New South Wales with two bushfires around Sydney in what was termed as an emergency level. According to reports, a lot of major roads going towards the south and west direction around the city of Sydney were shut down. Also, the concerned officials asked all the residents to slightly delay their holiday plans, with warnings about the raging wildfires due to soaring temperatures above 40 degrees.
Updated 16:10 IST, December 23rd 2019