Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended his government’s handling of an “unprecedented” bushfire emergency and its climate policy, amid mounting criticism over the crisis that has killed at least 23 people and forced tens of thousands to evacuate their homes.
As vast plumes of smoke from hundreds of fires turned daytime skies an eerie orange colour as far away as New Zealand, Mr Morrison told a news conference he would not be distracted by criticism that his government had been too slow to respond to the crisis that began in November.
“Blame doesn’t help anybody at this time and over-analysis of these things is not a productive exercise,” said Mr Morrison, as he announced a new task force on Sunday to aid bushfire recovery operations that he predicted would last at least two years.