Aussie PM expresses regret

After weeks of criticism over the handling of the bushfires scorching Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday expressed regret over his handling of the bushfire crisis.

“There are things I could have handled on the ground much better,” he said in an interview with ABC television. “These are sensitive environments, there are very emotional environments; prime ministers are flesh and blood too in how they engage with people.”

He also said he will propose a national review into the response to the disaster, as the fires claimed another firefighter’s life.

The Australian bush has been burning for nearly three months and the fires have killed 28 people, claimed 2,000 homes and consumed millions of acres of land and wildlife. The crisis is becoming increasingly political as the country looks at the causes and the government’s response.

“There is obviously a need for a national review of the response,” Morrison said.

Asked whether it should be a Royal Commission, a powerful judicial inquiry, Morrison said, “I think that is what would be necessary and I will be taking a proposal through the cabinet to that end, but it must be done with consultations with the states and territories.”