Prime Minister Scott Morrison under fire for cricket tweet

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is under fire over a “disgusting” and “tone-deaf” tweet following his catch-up with Australia’s cricket stars.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under fire for tweeting his support of the Australian cricket team during a time of widespread bushfire catastrophes.

The cricket tragic’s tweet suggesting bushfire victims and firefighting heroes will get something to cheer for watching Australia take on Pakistan in the First Test at the Gabba on Thursday went down like a led balloon with some Aussie commentators.

Morrison met up with Aussie captain Tim Paine and star batsman Steve Smith during Australia’s final training session on Wednesday, but his decision to take to Twitter to share his excitement for the upcoming summer of cricket has been savaged across the country.

Going to be a great summer of cricket, and for our firefighters and fire-impacted communities, I’m sure our boys will give them something to cheer for.@GabbaBrisbane @CricketAus #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/iHF1mGPrAH

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) November 20, 2019

Morrison also on Wednesday tweeted about his visit to the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Centre, where he urged Australians to stay updated on any fires in their regions.

I visited the @QldFES Centre today to get an update on the current and forecast bushfire conditions. Australia is facing some dangerous fire conditions all across the country in the coming days. Please keep updated on fires in your area. Stay alert. Stay informed. Stay safe. pic.twitter.com/41S8nHjY4t

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) November 20, 2019

South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young led the outcry against Morrison, by declaring the Prime Minister is “out of touch.”.

“I just want to say how disgusted I was at the Prime Minister’s tweet yesterday,” she said on Thursday.

“ While South Australia was burning, while homes were being lost here and lives were being lost in Queensland and NSW, we have the Prime Minister tweeting about how excited he was to be hanging out with cricket stars. It is insensitive. It shows a total lack of empathy. And really it shows how out of touch the Prime Minister we have is.”

Could the Prime Minister be anymore out of touch?
Fires are raging, homes lost, lives destroyed and volunteers are working their guts out in the sweltering heat - and the PM is giddy about hanging out with cricket stars https://t.co/apt4loDRtW

— Sarah Hanson-Young💚 (@sarahinthesen8) November 21, 2019

My home state of SA is burning while the Prime Minister announces he’ll cut enviroment laws to make it easier for big coal, oil and gas companies to keep polluting. This will make climate change worse and will make bushfires more catastrophic.

— Sarah Hanson-Young💚 (@sarahinthesen8) November 21, 2019

Other commentators described Morrison’s tweet as “tone deaf”.

A staggering tweet of monumental denial that would embarrass even Donald Trump.

Just do your job, Scott Morrison, cut pollution and stop needlessly putting lives at risk. https://t.co/0oyVM3fClc

— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) November 20, 2019

Full props to Scott Morrison, as Liberal Prime Minister at a time of *genuine national crisis*, to double down and give every single citizen concrete reason to feel hopeless, unprotected, doomed and terrified.

Enjoy the cricket, mate. How good are free tickets? #auspol https://t.co/fp6QViqCoI

— 🍩 Van Badham 🍩 (@vanbadham) November 21, 2019

This absolute shithouse, tone-deaf tweet aside, Scott Morrison always looks like that guy you end up stuck talking to at a wedding while you furtively look over his shoulder for someone - ANYONE - else https://t.co/plcmGwbtzx

— Lucy O'Brien (@Luceobrien) November 20, 2019

great let’s watch some cricket pic.twitter.com/tdYpYCYr9Z

— 💭 (@KemblaCoxy) November 21, 2019

It comes after Morrison said domestic climate action has no bearing on individual fires raging across the country.

Morrison again defended his government’s action on climate change as blazes burn across the nation during an early and savage start to the fire season.

“To suggest that with just 1.3 per cent of global emissions that Australia doing something differently — more or less — would have changed the fire outcome this season, I don’t think that stands up to any credible scientific evidence at all,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.

He said an international response was critical to addressing the issue.

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison talks to the most important person in the country.

“Climate change is a global phenomenon and we’re doing our bit as part of the response to climate change,” Mr Morrison said.

The Prime Minister said he didn’t meet with 23 former fire chiefs and emergency services leaders calling for a climate emergency declaration in April because the government already had advice about the upcoming season. The group also warned bushfire seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres were overlapping, straining the availability of water bombers and other aircraft.

“This is the advice we already had from existing fire chiefs, doing the existing job,” Morrison said.

“This is why we put the additional resources into our emergency services and our aviation fire fighting assets.”

— with AAP