In case you were wondering why the current PM is in a spot of bother at the moment; here’s a brief timeline that may clear some things up:

April 2019: Government ignores alerts from the Emergency Leaders for Climate Change of “increasingly catastrophic extreme weather events” and the need for “national firefighting assets”.

June 2019: The Fire and Rescue NSW budget is cut by $12.9 million, and the Rural Fire and Rescue NSW budget is cut by $26.7 million. What the fuck.

September 2019: Once again the Emergency Leaders for Climate Change alert the government of the pressing concerns. Ignored gain.
Fires begin to break out across Australia, mostly in NSW.

November 2019: Green Party rep Carol Innes states that climate change is the cause of the drought and lack of rain. Deputy PM Liberal Michael McCormack calls it “pure, enlightened and woke capital-city greenies” and “inner-city raving lunatics”.

December 11th 2019: Australia rated worst-performing country on climate change policy; government as a “regressive force” internationally. Morrison dismisses as “not credible”.

December 16th 2019: NSW bushfires out of control. Morrison heads to Hawaii for a holiday, which is denied by his office.

December 17th 2019: Emergency Leaders for Climate Change state their “huge disappointment in the lack of national leadership during a bushfire crisis.” Australia outed as “cheating” on Paris Climate Agreement.

December 20th 2019: Morrison announces he will return to Australia, meanwhile the defence minister and the NSW emergency services minister both left to holiday to Bali and Europe respectively during this crisis.

December 22nd 2019: Morrison returns to work and states that the government will not increase efforts to combat climate change despite the record-breaking heatwave and bushfire crisis. Claims talking about climate change is just an attempt to score political points. The next day, claims that Australia doesn’t need to do more on tackling climate crisis.

January 1st 2010: Morrison urges Australians to celebrate living “in the most amazing country on earth”. Makes no connection between bushfires and global warming. Sends the day hosting the cricket.

January 2nd 2020: Morrison says he’s “always acknowledged the link … between the broader issues of global climate change and what that means for the world’s weather and the dryness of conditions in many places.” Says no plans to change Australia’s emissions reduction policy. Navy ships and army aircraft are dispatched.

January 3rd 2020: Morrison visits communities affected by fires for media campaign photos and is understandably and deservedly met with widespread abuse.

Please remember that the only power we have is as a community and with our votes! If you’re “not into politics” then perhaps this awful bushfire crisis might highlight why everybody should take an interest, it’s all about uniting ourselves as a country and looking after our people.

Love, Akika xoxoxooxoxoxox