Furious Cobargo residents explode at visiting Scott Morrison after their town was destroyed by bushfires

How many Cobargo residents exploded and what were their politics is not mentioned.  One would think it obvious that the fires were not the PM's fault and that he could do nothing to stop them.

But clearly, some people have been taken in by the Greenie propaganda that the fires are due to global warming and that it just takes a law to stop global warming


Residents of a town devastated by bushfires have abused visiting Prime Minister Scott Morrison, forcing him to cut short a meet and greet with locals. 

Cobargo, on the New South Wales South Coast, is one of the areas worst hit by Australia's bushfire crisis, which has killed 18 people, razed 1,298 homes and destroyed more than 3.6million hectares of land.

The small town lost its entire main street, a beloved father and son were killed and dozens of homes were destroyed as the fire front swept through on New Year's Eve.

Mr Morrison travelled to Cobargo on Thursday to meet with residents who had lost everything - but the visit soon turned ugly.

He was told he 'should be ashamed of himself' while others called him 'Scum-mo' for 'leaving the country to burn'.

One local refused to shake his hand until the PM offered more support to volunteer firefighters. 'I'm only shaking your hand if you give more funding to our RFS,' the woman said. 

Instead, Mr Morrison picked up her hand and shook it himself, before turning his back on her mid-sentence and moving on to another person.

'So many people have lost their homes,' the woman said while holding back tears. She was consoled by another man as the PM walked away. She shouted after him saying: 'We need more help.'

Footage of the incident was described as 'disturbing' on social media.

'What is most disturbing about this extraordinary video is our PM forcing a young, clearly distressed woman to shake his hand followed by another male putting his arms around her telling her to ''shush'',' one woman wrote. 

'Proud of people in Cobargo for speaking their mind on how they've been treated! What does ScoMo do? Walk away from real people with real issues affecting them now. Disgusting.'

'I can understand him leaving when the men got aggressive but I can't believe he walked away from the woman pleading for help,' another added.

Another woman from the town, who brought her pet goat along to the meeting, told Mr Morrison the small town was 'forgotten' during the crisis.

'This is not fair,' she shouted. 'We are totally forgotten down here. Every single time this area gets a flood or a fire we get nothing.'

'If we lived in Sydney or on the North Coast we would be flooded with donations and emergency relief.'

The PM didn't find any additional support with the rest of the crowd which had gathered on Thursday.

Another shouted: 'You won't be getting any votes down here buddy. Who votes Liberal around here? Nobody.' 'You control the funding, and we were forgotten,' a woman added.  'Go on, p*ss off.' 

Shortly after arriving, the PM made a beeline back to his car and was driven away by his security team, looking slightly downtrodden as he left the hecklers behind.

Even as he left, furious residents continued to shout at his car, calling him names and asking why his home of Kirribilli wouldn't burn down. 'Go home to Kirribilli. Why won't that burn down after the fireworks?' another local yelled.

In an area where four people perished in a ferocious fire, Steve Shipton's eyes were burning as he tried to save his home. 'I thought I was a goner,' the Coolagolite cattle farmer told AAP.  'The heat was horrendous. My eyes... I couldn't see 20 feet last night.'

Mr Shipton thought he was fine to protect his home after getting his wife and kids inside and his stock out to a dirt clearing.

'It all happened so quick,' the 46-year-old said, soot still covering his face. 'I stayed out. I suppose I shouldn't have but it just happened so fast.

'It's just unbelievable. The ferocity and how quick.... That's what shocked me and that's why I thought we were in a good situation to survive,' he said.

The dairy-turned-beef farmer estimates he lost about a tenth of his 250-odd head of cattle, including his favourite dairy cow

Most of the cattle had been where Mr Shipton thought would be safe - on dirt with a feed rack - but the animals 'obviously panicked'.

A vet on Wednesday assessed which would survive and which needed to be euthanised, leaving Mr Shipton with the grim task of carrying out a mass mercy killing.

'There are some in there badly scorched,' Mr Shipton said. 'He'll know better than me what can survive and what can't because I've never been through this scenario. 'You don't want them to suffer.'

Mr Morrison later told the ABC he wasn't 'surprised people are feeling very raw at the moment. 'And, that's why I came today, to be here, to see it for myself; offer what comfort I could.

'But you can't always in every circumstance, I think everyone understands that,' he said.

The disastrous visit comes as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a week long state of emergency ahead of Saturday's predicted catastrophic conditions.

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NSW bushfires: police set to charge a dozen with arson

NSW Rural Fire Service Inspector Ben Shepherd has revealed investigators are close to charging more than a dozen suspected arsonists believed to have deliberately lit bushfires as the state remains in the grip of an ongoing bushfire crisis.

With tireless firefighters continuing to battle more than 100 blazes across NSW, Mr Shepherd warned the RFS was working “hand-in-hand with police” and noted that the state has “some of the toughest arson laws and penalties” in the country.

It comes amid revelations at least 56 people have already been charged or cautioned with 71 bushfire-related offences since August, with 16 ogoing investigations into suspicious fires, including a blaze that threatened the rim of suburban Sydney in South Turramurra, on Sydney’s Upper North Shore, on November 12.

“There are a number of fires so far this season that have been lit with malicious intent,” Mr Shepherd told The Australia.

“We work hand-in-hand with police to investigate fires and have several officers working on the current investigations.

“It’s only a matter of time until the police catch up with them. We’re working to close those cases soon and ensure those responsible are charged and brought before the courts.”

NSW’s bushfire crisis has already claimed six lives and more than 700 homes this season, and Mr Shepherd warned that arsonists could easily find themselves facing up to 25 years imprisonment for manslaughter.

“This kind of activity is dangerous and stupid … and the real issue is the severity fo the risk when the environment is so dry and windy, and conducive to fires spreading extraordinarily quickly,” he said.

He said the majority of fires currently scorching the state were started by lighting, or embers spread from those fires — but noted that individuals’ negligence in respecting total fire bans when holding barbecues and going camping, was not insignificant when compared with arson.

The warning came as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that “huge” firefronts ravaging her state are uncontrollable.

Ms Berejiklian made the announcement from the Rural Fire Service’s Hawkesbury Fire Control Centre on Tuesday, adjacent to both a mammoth 400,000 hectare “mega-fire” at Gospers Mountain, as well as the town of Mount Tomah, where backburning that spiralled out of control destroyed up to 12 homes on Sunday.

Authorities in NSW were pleading with residents to monitor conditions ahead of peak danger days on Thursday and Saturday, when daytime temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees in eastern NSW and ACT, and 45 degrees in western NSW.

Ms Berejiklian said “in particular we’re very worried about Thursday and also Saturday.” “At this stage we want to make sure everybody’s alert,” she said. “The firefronts have joined, and the firefront is now huge. Containment is not an option, what is the option is to save life and property.”

Emergency Services minister David Elliott said “the next five days, could potentially see some of the most dangerous conditions that the state has seen for quite some time”.

Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said heatwave conditions interacting with the ongoing firefront would create an “awful situation” later in the week. “By no means people should underestimate the potential for how bad these days can be,” Mr Rogers said of Saturday, which he believes will be the worst day, and Thursday which he said “will be bad enough”.

“With strong wings, you’ve got the worst possible circumstances and also so much fire in the landscape in so close a proximity to urban areas. It’s an awful situation.”

“One of the things that we found over this fire season is people are waiting until the last minute and then they’re suddenly ringing triple zero and saying ‘I need help’. Sometimes we can’t get firefighters to people in those circumstances.” he said.

Mr Rogers said firefighters are doing “whatever they can” to protect the “critical” Springvale coal mine facility near the Gospers Mountain firefront north west of Sydney.

He also said he was confident the Wallerawang power station, which supplies 10 per cent of power to NSW and is also near the Gospers Mountain fire, would not be affected, as westerly winds would push the fire in the opposite direction from the blaze on Tuesday afternoon.

A spokesman for Energy Australia told The Australian the Mount Piper power station at Wallerawang was operating “with only essential personnel”, and was working closely with the RFS and the Australian Energy Market Operator to ensure supply was met.

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Scott Morrison signals backburning shake up in wake of bushfires

Firefighters have app­lauded the Prime Minister’s call to rewrite hazard ­reduction and landclearing rules in the wake of the fires that have ravaged the nation since September.

Scott Morrison also signalled it was time to reconsider where houses can be built.

Speaking to the media in Sydney before flying to Bega yesterday afternoon, Mr Morrison said there was “a need to address issues around hazard reduction for national parks, dealing with landclearing laws, zoning laws and planning laws around people’s properties and where they can be built in countries like Australia, up and down the coast”.

“That being the case with the climatic effects of what we are seeing, there are many restrictions around those effects that have to be reviewed on the basis on the broader climatic effect we are seeing in this country,” Mr Morrison said.

The PM said there were “many contributing factors” to the fire season, none more significant than the drought which had “created a tinderbox around the country” and seen “these fires run for long periods of time, particularly when there is no dousing rain that has normally followed.”

Mr Morrison said the issue of “fuel loads” was also “very clear”.

“That has been a constant source of feedback by those on the ground,” he said. “Issues in national parks and issues of hazard reduction and how that has worked over a period of time, that needs to be looked at undoubtedly.”

NSW Volunteer Fire Fighters Association President Mick Holton said the PM’s comments were “excellent”. “We need to ensure we reduce hazards,” Mr Holton said.

“The problem is the red tape surround it has become so complex it is almost in the too hard basket.”

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Bright deserted after concerns raised about possibility of mega fire

Alpine tourist Mecca Bright is all but closed as local residents bunker down for a tense day as fire conditions intensify.

A wind change this afternoon will create an extra challenge for firefighters as it brings gusts up to 80km/h to Mt Hotham and other alpine areas.

Tens of thousands of people have evacuated Victoria’s worst hit bushfire regions in the past 24 hours.

Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning said a number of fires started converging overnight. The largest is in the Omeo region near the Alpine National Park. Three fires joined there overnight to create a 6000 hectare fire.

The large inferno is now moving toward Cobungra, and could flare up as conditions worsen throughout the day.

While the conditions were mild this morning, the DELWP Gippsland warned against complacency. “As the day progresses, and weather heats up – the risk will increase right across the region,” the DELWP Gippsland said. “The risk is still real in this area and the community needs to stay very much aware of conditions and relevant warnings.

“Further wind and weather changes are expected in the region by mid-afternoon.”

Campers left the area in droves on Thursday.

Emergency Management Commission Andrew Crisp said there was every chance the Corryong and NSW bushfires could merge into a mega blaze.

“If you are in that area you should be getting out,” he said.

“This is very much about shared responsibility.”

Bright’s neighbouring townships of Freeburgh, Harrietville, Smoko, Wandiligong were told to evacuate about 3.30pm on Friday, because there were multiple out-of-control bushfires burning in the Abbeyard area.

Temperatures in Albury are tipped to soar as high as 46C today as thousands of Victorians face a dangerous day fleeing and managing the state’s bushfire crisis.

Bright’s two supermarkets remained open for residents stocking up on supplies, but there were few other signs of life in the town other than cars passing through from areas deeper in the Alpine National Park.

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On the road to Apocalypse Soon with Greta Thunberg and her disciples

GERARD HENDERSON

Since the world, according to Greta Thunberg and her disciples, faces extinction it came as no surprise that this year there was a certain madness in the air — especially among those who regard themselves as progressive.

After all, when the end of the world seemed (relatively) nigh it was no surprise that hyperbole, exaggeration, hypocrisy, wish fulfilment, false prophecy and a lack of self-awareness, along with double standards, prevailed in the land as we headed towards Apocalypse Soon — month after month.

* January: The year begins with Nine Entertainment newspapers’ Peter FitzSimons criticising footballers who engage in look-at-me behaviour after scoring a goal. This from a middle-aged man who wears a red bandana on his head.

Nine’s David Crowe predicts that if former Liberal Julia Banks wins Flinders in the federal election “it will be an earthquake for the Liberals”. She finishes third.

The New Daily’s Quentin Dempster suggests that Sky News’ Chris Kenny “probably gets his instructions telepathically” from Rupert Murdoch.

* February: The Saturday Paper’s Paul Bongiorno tweets he admires “the ABC’s policy to put different voices and accents on air”. He adds: “I wish the reporter they sent to NZ spoke English; her accent is incomprehensible.” In fact, the journalist concerned speaks impeccable English with an understandable Scottish accent.

From Singapore, Alex Turnbull states that the lesson of “the internal war over coal in the Coalition is that the sooner the Qld LNP splits the better” since “you can pander to central cuspy Qld One Nation voters or form government but not both”. See May.

* March: Nine newspapers’ Peter Hartcher writes a series of articles on what he regards as the current predicament facing the Liberal Party. Hartcher is of the view that only the likes of Malcolm Turnbull should lead the Liberals.

But he expresses disappointment that his man did not perform in accordance with expectations. Hartcher seeks advice from political psychologist James Walter, who convinces him that Turnbull sold his soul to Lucifer in a modern day “Faustian bargain” to hang on as party leader by appeasing conservatives.

The fact is Turnbull lost the support of his colleagues, who did not include Lucifer. By the way, in January Walter foresaw a “wholesale collapse” of the Liberal Party “appears to be inevitable”.

* April: La Trobe University emeritus professor Judith Brett opines that “not since 1943 has the non-Labor side of national politics entered an election campaign in such poor shape” and predicts “it could well be heading for another low point”.

Bongiorno concurs, maintaining the Liberal Party’s “credibility is in tatters due to the fact that the person leading it is not Malcolm Turnbull but it is Scott Morrison”.

Former Liberal leader (and constant Liberal Party antagonist) John Hewson declares the Coalition “is facing electoral defeat”.

Lawyer Michael Bradley ad­vises Crikey readers that Rugby Australia has “every right” to say Israel Folau’s behaviour “cannot be accepted”. See December.

* May: On the eve of the election, ABC 7.30 political editor Laura Tingle predicts that Labor will win and laughs at the suggestion the Coalition might prevail.

Guardian Australia’s Kath­arine Murphy writes that Morrison’s vulnerability as an “empty vessel” is “becoming as obvious as the nose on Morrison’s face”.

The Age’s Tony Wright decrees that “the Liberal edifice is toppling”. Needless to say, this trio remain “experts” after the Coali­tion’s victory and live to make more false predictions.

Nine newspapers’ cartoonist Kathy Wilcox laments that “morons outnumber the thinking people at election time”. The ABC’s Andrew Probyn blames opinion polls, but not commentators like him, for misleading the electorate.

* June: In The Australian Financial Review Geoff Kitney rationalises the election result by asserting that “Australian voters didn’t really choose” Morrison. In a novel interpretation, Kitney reckons “many” electors voted for the Coalition because they thought Labor would win. Really.

Mike Carlton boasts: “I feel this delicious lightness of Being. A heady draught of Liberation! Freedom! It is like Paris, August 1944.”

You see, your man Carlton said he had just cancelled his subscription to The Australian — an act he equated with the D-Day landings.

* July: Garrulous visiting British political operative Alastair Campbell dominates discussion on the ABC’s Q&A program. In the process he equates Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler — as if the victims of Nazism only had to put up with excessive tweeting.

FitzSimons suggests Boris Johnson cannot promise “strong political leadership”. Nine newspapers’ Tony Walker compares Johnson’s “shambolic personal life” with that of the “outstanding” Lord Palmerston, apparently unaware of the latter’s personal life as a womaniser on steroids.

* August: Waleed Aly, who is a presenter on Network Ten’s The Project as well as on ABC Radio National, complains in his Nine newspaper column that Johnson “has suspended Parliament in the name of the people!”

The exclamation mark is intended to underline the allegation that the move was somehow undemocratic. But parliament in Britain resumed and Johnson led the Conservatives to a clear election victory in December. Nine newspapers lead with a story that “the Chinese economy is in danger of hurtling towards a hard landing that could threaten more than half a million Australian jobs”. A prophecy that remains unfulfilled, so far at least.

* September: Malcolm Farr tells ABC Insiders viewers Cronulla, in Morrison’s electorate, will be under water in 50 to 100 years — a prediction that exceeds the most alarmist eco-catastrophists.

Zali Steggall, the independent MP for Warringah, which is close to the sea, says she cannot afford an electric car and calls on the government to subsidise such vehicles to allow her to replace her Nissan Pathfinder.

ABC presenter Matt Bevan sneers at the Prime Minister’s successful trip to the US as the “box factory visit”.

* October: In The Australian Financial Review, the normally considered Martin Wolf expresses the view that it is a measure of how far Britain has fallen that Johnson in 2019 “often sounds rather like” Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels in 1933.

Then Nine newspapers runs an article by economist Paul Krugman predicting Trump may preside over a slump — without mentioning he falsely predicted a recession in Trump’s first year in office. ABC journalist Osman Faruqi discovers rampant racism in Andrew Rule welcoming the fact an Australian-born horse won the Melbourne Cup.

* November: Retired ABC journalist Kerry O’Brien lectures an admiring audience at the Walkley Awards that Australia is on “an unacceptable step down on the road to authoritarianism” and that “authoritarianism unchecked can lead to fascism”. But not, apparently, to communism.

In Guardian Australia, Van Badham confesses she consigned her University of Wollongong Anarchist Collective T-shirt to “the dustbin of history” following a realisation that “organic extrapolitical entities” cannot “govern themselves democratically”. This wisdom came following a “wild internet barney” in the anarchist collective at Rose Bay on Sydney Harbour.

* December: Guardian editor Lenore Taylor condemns the Prime Minister for alleged “woefully inadequate climate policy” without mentioning she recently put her large Canberra house, which has a woefully inadequate energy rating, on the market.

FitzSimons dismisses the Folau settlement without realising Folau received a big payout from Rugby Australia plus two apologies.

Paula Matthewson bags Morrison for not doing “something” about the bushfires. This is the same Matthewson who dismissed the futility of Tony Abbott for fighting fires when he was prime minister in 2013. The Saturday Paper’s Eric Jensen concludes the year with this soothsaying: “Scott Morrison marks Captain Cook anniversary by taking career ending trip to Hawaii.” In Nine newspapers, Mark Mordue warns “our dead future is here”. Enough said.

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 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here