Scott Morrison acknowledges bushfire backlash

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he will take to cabinet a proposal to establish a royal commission into the bushfire disasters as he admits mistakes were made in his handling of the crisis.

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison will take a proposal for a royal commission into the horror bushfire season to his cabinet colleagues as he concedes in “hindsight” he should not have gone to Hawaii on holiday during the disaster.

Mr Morrison said a national review — possibly in the form of a royal commission — would be the “first step” in a government response to the unprecedented bushfire season.

“I think (a royal commission) is what would be necessary and I’ll be taking a proposal through cabinet to that end,” he said.

“But it must be done in consultation with the states and territories.

“I think Australians have a reasonable expectation that any commission of inquiry, royal commission, would need to cover the full gambit of issues.”

Scott Morrison told David Speers mistakes were made.

Mr Morrison told the ABC’s David Speers he believed there were three main issues to be addressed — the operation response to the fires, how federal, states and territories worked together, and lastly an acknowledgment of “the climate we now live in and how … climate change has affected that”.

“That is not an issue of dispute,” he said.

“That is an issue of acknowledgment.”

Mr Morrison said the government would continue to “evolve” its climate policy, insisting acting tot he change wasn’t entirely about bushfires.

“It isn’t just restricted to bushfires,” he said.

“It deals with floods, with cyclones, with the drought that is affected by these broader issues.

“Adaption and resilience is key to that, building dams is clear to that, native vegetation is key to that, land clearing is key to that, where you can build homes is key to that.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and wife Jenny visit Cobargo. Picture: Sean Davey

Mr Morrison denied suggestions his government ignored warnings about how bad the fire season would be, pointing to additional resources the government has funded including an extra $20 million for water bombers delivered just last week following consultation with current fire chiefs.

“What we have done and this included briefings to cabinet, through Emergency Management Australia, (fire chiefs) came and briefed our cabinet going into this fire season, whether it was this season or last season, there was the view that we’re living in longer, hotter, dryer summers,” Mr Morrison said.

“This is obviously affected by the broader changes in climate.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits a fire damaged property on Stokes Bay on Kangaroo Island.

The Prime Minister revealed the recent call up of 3000 Australian Defence Force Army reserves followed a trial run in November.

“There was no advice that said the ADF should be able to act unilaterally and to deploy on its own initiative in response to any fire event,” Mr Morrison said.

“But what we did do – I authorised with the Defence Minister for a trial run of the national callout of the reserves.

“That was done in November. The decision we took ultimately in the new year.

“That is an unprecedented action of a Commonwealth Government.

“It has been in response to an unprecedented set of actions that were happening on the ground.”

Originally published as Scott Morrison acknowledges bushfire backlash