Emergency Services Minister admits ’I should have put the RFS first’
Less than a week after jetting off to Europe during the NSW bushfire crisis, Emergency Services Minister David Elliott has returned — admitting the trip was ‘inexcusable’ but insisting he would not stand down. ‘I came back to step up, not step down,’ he said today.
NSW
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Emergency Services Minister David Elliott returned from his European holiday last night and admitted his decision to travel overseas on a family vacation while the state burned was “inexcusable”.
Mr Elliot made the comments after receiving a late-night briefing at the Rural Fire Service’s Sydney headquarters where he returned this morning.
“My absence over the last week was inexcusable,” he said.
“I should have put my RFS family first and foremost given the current conditions (even my own family acknowledge that) and now it’s time to get back to work.”
Asked whether he intended to stay on as minister, Mr Elliott replied: “I came back to step up, not step down”.
“I will be supporting the Premier and the Commissioner, making sure that I get on top of the operations and deployments that occur today,” he said.
“Unfortunately I will have a funeral on Tuesday and I will attempt to get down to Albury on Monday or Wednesday and depending on what happens today, tomorrow and Monday I will visit some of the fire lines.”
Mr Elliott, who served RFS volunteers breakfast on Christmas Day, received regular updates during his post-Christmas holiday as Corrections Minister Anthony Roberts assumed duties on the ground.
The Baulkham Hills MP nevertheless came in for heavy community criticism for travelling overseas during a bushfire season in which almost 1300 homes have been razed, 17 lives lost and bush three times the size of Sydney burnt.
Mr Roberts on Friday refused to pile on, saying annual leave was staggered between NSW ministers.
“He made it quite clear that if the situation got worse, he would return. He will return this weekend,” he said.
Mr Elliott will address media on Saturday morning alongside Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
A statewide total fire ban and week-long state of emergency are in place.
He said NSW would have 3000 firefighters operating and a further 600 on standby to cope with the day’s extreme fire danger.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was criticised before Christmas for holidaying with his family in Hawaii during the bushfire crisis.