Australian PM's leadership criticized during wildfire crisis

Canberra, Jan 8 (AP) As his country burned, Australia's prime minister was cursed and jeered out of a town, called an "idiot," a "moron" and worse, and skewered at home and abroad for his dismissive response toward climate change. Australia's deadly wildfires have proven to be not just a crisis for the country, but a crisis for the country's prime minister — one so grave that some have questioned whether his leadership can survive it.

The outpouring of frustration and rage from many Australians toward Prime Minister Scott Morrison's lethargic wildfire response has been likened to the furious reaction of Americans toward President George W. Bush over his clumsy response to Hurricane Katrina. But whether Morrison's missteps put him at risk of being ousted from power in Australia's notoriously volatile government remains to be seen.

"I think it's done lasting damage to his credibility as a leader that is going to hound him into the future," said Sydney University political scientist Stewart Jackson. "The question's going to be: Can Morrison recover from this?" Morrison's blunders began early in the disaster, which has so far killed at least 26 people and destroyed 2,000 homes. He came under withering criticism for secretly taking a family vacation to Hawaii last month as his hometown of Sydney was choking on smoke that wafted from distant incinerated eucalyptus forests.

His absence fueled criticism that his conservative government was ignoring the impacts of climate change at the end of a record hot and dry year in Australia. Weeks earlier, Australia was accused at a United Nations climate conference in Madrid of exploiting an accounting loophole to achieve its greenhouse gas reduction targets and of thwarting an international agreement on carbon markets.

The Hawaii vacation also created the appearance of Morrison fleeing the smoke and flames that thousands of ordinary Australians who bravely volunteer as firefighters were running toward. Those volunteers include high-profile Sydney fire truck driver Tony Abbott, a former prime minister whom Morrison as a power broker in their Liberal Party helped oust in 2015. Protesters, outraged at Morrison's absence during the crisis and his inaction on climate change, surrounded his home in Sydney. Memes mocking the prime minister flooded social media. A local retailer began selling Hawaiian shirts bearing Morrison's face, with proceeds going toward firefighting efforts.

Under siege, Morrison announced he was cutting short his vacation to lead the government after two volunteer firefighters died protecting neighbors' homes. But the damage was done. Jackson likened the Hawaii fiasco to Bush's decision to continue his vacation after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. The former U.S. president's reputation was wounded by his failure to respond faster.

"Bush was at least in the country, albeit flying over looking out the window," Jackson said, referring to an enduring image of the president surveying the damage in New Orleans far below Air Force One. "Being overseas didn't help" Morrison, Jackson added.

Back from Hawaii, criticism of Morrison's clumsy leadership continued. He was seen on video offering to shake the hand of a reluctant woman in the all-but-destroyed New South Wales township of Cobargo. When she did not take his hand, he used his left hand to draw her right hand forward and shook it with his right, leaving many Australians with the impression that all he cared about was a photo opportunity.

"You won't be getting any votes down here!" one local later shouted at him. "You are out!" Morrison brushed off abuse by locals who complained of a lack of government support, arguing the insults were not meant as personal attacks. "I don't take it personally," Morrison told reporters later. "I just see it as a sense of frustration and hurt and loss and anger that is out there about what is the ferocity of these natural disasters." Critics argue he should take some of the feedback to heart. (AP) AMS

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