Deer in the Headlights

[DJC]

Julie Bishop was the leader this country needed.

I’m not a huge fan of Bishop but I suspect that you’re right.  The question is whether she would have been able to stare down the religious right rump.  Either way, she would have been way ahead of Scotty from marketing and Billy from wherever he was from.

[capcom]

We should have a fleet of sky cranes parked at Essendon airport year round.  I was an airport manager there and got up really close to this beast ...

We wasted 50 billion on outdated frog submarines and one Elvis is a lousy 40 million.

[Baggers]

DJC steps up to the plate and BAM, Home Run!

Yep, as did the SpannerMan.

Some great lines are coming out re Morrison's appalling inability to lead... David, like the 'couldn't lead ants up a dead dog's dot.' Heard a ripper yesterday re Morrison's leadership - 'About as useful as an @rsehole with taste buds!'

But wait, there's more (to keep a familiar marketing theme for Morrison)... the bloke puts out a promotional video today on the great actions and initiatives of his govt in response to the fires. Wow, the shallow and putrid opportunism of this pr1ck is astounding. Even Piers Morgan got into him over that! Morrison is beyond embarrassing.

I'm just waiting for the rains to come and Morrison then claim he prayed for rain - another miracle, no doubt.

[DJC]

We should have a fleet of sky cranes parked at Essendon airport year round.  I was an airport manager there and got up really close to this beast ...

We wasted 50 billion on outdated frog submarines and one Elvis is a lousy 40 million.

I’d like to see the Government acquire several large fixed wing firefighting aircraft.  With the common use of role-specific modules, it should also be possible to fit firefighting modules to military assets from trucks to aircraft.

Back to Scotty from marketing; what about his advertisement spruiking his response to the fires?  Wanker!

[LP]

Well the Ad caps it off for me, this bloke has just reinforced that he exhibits all the very worst traits of every craphouse manager I've encountered in 40 years of business.

They should add in a "ScoMo" entry to clarify the dictionary definitions for Parasite, White-Ant and Fraud.

FMD, and if the Right isn't Right enough already, they are out in the media today in strength taking the opportunity to lambaste the ABC because it's over-budget from providing 24x7 coverage of the bush fires! Apparently the cost of the coverage servicing the community is too high!

[Baggers]

Thank you, Pauly for the article links. All really good reads... especially the Black Swan article.

[PaulP]

Thank you, Pauly for the article links. All really good reads... especially the Black Swan article.

No worries Shano.

[LP]

Thank you, Pauly for the article links. All really good reads... especially the Black Swan article.

It's nice to see some science making a concrete predictions, some irony when ScoMo and other denialists stand up and makes a statement like nobody could see this coming! ------------ I suppose the naysayers will claim it was just a lucky guess! :

I heard on radio that the NAFFC(National Aerial Fire Fighting Centre) asked for 30 new aircraft including several very large twin engine jet type water bombers, 4 years ago! Guess who was allegedly in charge of that department when the request was declined, you got it, by Scotty from Marketing!

[Tragic]

Perception kills.  ScoMo is done and dusted. 

Everyone deserves a holiday.  But not the PM when a national disaster is unfolding.  He should have cancelled beforehand, or got back the moment it turned ugly.

Everyone likes the cricket, but a backyard cricket party when a national disaster is unfolding.  Not a good look.  It does provide a nice backdrop for the fires though!

He should have been front and centre rallying and preparing all available armed forces (national) and then publicly tell the states they can have whatever they need right now.  And stump up to cover the volunteers lost wages from the get go.

These fires are a national disaster.  That's federal.  Regardless of the demarcation lines between state and federal govt.

And trying to force people to shake his hand - what a buffoon.

He missed the boat.  Nothing he can do now.

[Lods]

I’m not going to defend Morrison.
He’s been exactly as the thread title suggests….a ‘deer in the headlights’.
He was knocked off balance by the criticism of his holiday and every time he’s climbed back onto the beam he’s fallen off.
It’s a performance that may well cost him his job.
I do want to make this point though…
The situation we currently face is not like an earthquake, a cyclone, a mass shooting or an unexpected volcano eruption.
In those situations, the critical event happens in a matter of hours, minutes, seconds. Once the major impact of the event is over attention quickly moves to rescue, recovery and rebuild.
This bushfire event is more like a war. It has its major battles, skirmishes then lulls in the fighting but we’re never really sure when the worst is over. It’s been going since around September. There’s a fair chance it will be going for a few months yet…and there’s every chance we may not have seen the worst of it. The ‘generals’ in the various states seem to have been performing well…but they must be feeling the fatigue. Those on the front line certainly are. Like any war it’s a stop start situation with some battles won and others lost…and lines of communication and responses will vary from area to area. That leads to some of the more isolated communities becoming the major casualties and in many cases there is a genuine feeling of abandonment and subsequent anger. Resource allocation is always a matter of ‘where the need’ is felt to be greatest…but the unpredictable nature of a bushfire is such that these decisions can be wrong. Reallocating those resources is made more difficult by road closures.
There was fair warning that this would be a long and hard season…but did any of us sitting in our lounge rooms (or in the seats of power) expect things to reach the level they have.