Why are Australians so angry at the Prime Minister? He’s is failing to show real empathy which is directly related to his political need to downplay the link between bushfires and climate change. This is not going to end well for Morrison. A thread👇🏻
Empathy is the act of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and feeling their pain. Morrison refuses to do that with terrified Australians because to do so would be to admit the reality of catastrophic climate change. He cannot admit that for several reasons.
The first is his Liberal government narrowly won an election in May by downplaying the need for climate action and by framing Labor’s responsible climate policy as too expensive. The downplaying of climate change has been a key part of the Liberal political narrative for 20 years
This downplaying has led to notable moments, such as this year when Morrison told hundreds of thousands of climate protestors they had ‘needless anxiety’. He told us we didn’t need to be anxious and now we’re extremely anxious. Admitting why would reveal he lied to us before.
The downplaying of climate change hasn’t just been a political weapon against Labor. It’s also been a pro-mining campaign driven by the links between mining interests and Liberal Party. This isn’t just about donations, but also Liberal ideological worship of mining billionaires.
Famous images of Morrison brandishing a lump of coal in parliament will now haunt the PM. This is the perfect representation of his climate change position - fondling coal as a political attack on Labor’s call for climate action. A picture speaks 1000 words. 
Morrison has variously claimed climate change isn’t a problem, and has also claimed his govt are doing what they can to address it, which is a blatant lie. Liberals cancelled Labor’s working Carbon price, undermining growth in renewables.
They’ve also done hundreds of other significant things to undermine climate action, such as defunding CSIRO, forcing climate scientists out of work, cancelling the Climate Commission, waging a war on wind farms and electric cars, helped by their cheer squad in the Murdoch media.
This gives some context to why Morrison cannot show empathy to fearful public. He can’t admit climate change has caused this natural disaster to be incredibly unnatural so instead he downplays it and says lightning strikes have caused fires, it’s a normal natural disaster etc.
Australians are scared and need their PM to acknowledge their fears, but he’s left us hanging. The downplaying also means his direct response to the crisis has been tepid, and he’s had to be dragged kicking and screaming to take action such as bringing in ADF, more resources etc.
Before the crisis, a group of bushfire experts tried to meet with the PM twice to warn him of the impending disaster this summer and to advise on ways govt could prepare country for this threat. Morrison refused to meet with them and ignored official reports that said same.
The downplaying is also reason Morrison went on Hawaiian holiday while crisis was unfolding, only to scurry home when two firefighters died. It’s also why he has been partying on NYE, hosting cricketers and insensitively saying cricket will inspire people who’ve lost everything.
To summarise, Morrison can’t show adequate compassion and empathy with Australians because that would mean admitting he hasn’t lead from front on climate change and therefore can’t lead from the front on bushfire response. End.
