Scotty From Marketing Claims NSW Liberals Turned Down Navy Help; NSW Liberals Turning On Him

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The claims were made over the weekend by Daily Telegraph columnist Sharri Markson, who said the premier had rejected the offer of navy ships to assist in last week’s evacuations. “While Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has readily made use of the ADF to help nearly 1000 stranded locals and tourists evacuate from Mallacoota, the NSW Government has knocked back countless offers of naval support from Canberra,” she wrote. Markson did not attribute the claims to any named person and said the prime Minister refused to comment.

In the Australian over the weekend, Morrison was quoted as saying: “There is a major evacuation that is happening in Victoria at the moment with the HMAS Choules,” he said. “There has been no request from NSW of a similar ADF support for an evacuation of that nature on the south coast, given that the roads are open.”

At a press conference on Monday, both Berejiklian and the NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, again unequivocally rejected that they had turned down offers of federal help. Asked if the prime minister was lying, Berejiklian said: “I will say this: in a state of emergency operations decisions are taken by the commissioner. It’s not for politicians to interfere. Fitzsimmons then followed up, saying: “The answer is simply ‘no’. There has been no offer of assistance that I am aware of that hasn’t been accepted,” he said.

Senior NSW Liberals said they were “disgusted and embarrassed” that the federal government had chosen to deflect blame on to Berejiklian for the slow response from the federal government to the bushfire crisis. NSW transport minister and member for the south coast electorate of Bega, Andrew Constance, said last week Morrison got “the welcome that he probably deserved” when he was confronted by distraught locals in the fire-ravaged town of Cobargo.

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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/06/fires-crisis-senior-nsw-liberals-angered-by-pms-claim-state-refused-offers-of-navy-assistance