REGARDING Jennifer McInnes' letter of January 18 ("PM Howard was there, but Morrison was not", Western Advocate), I must make two observations.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Firstly, land management is constitutionally a State Government responsibility and the Commonwealth does not have a presidential right to unilaterally impose policies on the states in this area.
This situation is not a creation of Scott Morrison, it has been the case since Federation in 1901.
Natural disaster responses do not constitutionally change this fact, unlike in the United States.
Ms McInnes also contrasted John Howard's involvement in the Canberra bushfire response in 2003 with that of the current Prime Minister.
It is worth remembering that the Australian Capital Territory is federal land and the Commonwealth does have ultimate responsibility for land management in that jurisdiction: unlike in the states.
Therefore it is impossible to compare John Howard's response with that of Scott Morrison because they are in constitutionally different positions due to the location of their respective bushfire responses.
It is perfectly reasonable for voters to hold politicians to account, but it is also necessary to understand how Commonwealth/state relations work when holding them to account, otherwise issues such as this become a matter of personal grievance which is thoroughly unhelpful.
