Nationals leader Michael McCormack is acting as the country’s prime minister from Wagga Wagga, claiming the regional New South Wales town as the “nation’s capital”.

As Scott Morrison takes time off to holiday with family ahead of Christmas in an undisclosed location, McCormack, as deputy prime minister, will serve in the role until Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference in Wagga Wagga on Tuesday, McCormack praised the opportunity to serve from his home town in the electorate of Riverina.

“Wagga Wagga of course back in the early 1900s had its hand up to be the nation’s capital, well it’s taken a bit over a hundred years and it is finally the nation’s capital,” McCormack said.

The prime minister’s office said that Morrison was continuing to receive briefings on the NSW bushfires and the recovery efforts from White Island in New Zealand. It is understood he will resume normal duties on Thursday.

The escalating fire situation across NSW has prompted a group of former fire chiefs to call for a national summit on bushfire management and climate change, accusing the federal government of being “missing in action”.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/17/acting-pm-michael...

Missing in action?    More like AWOL...

Australia recorded its hottest day on record on Wednesday, with an average maximum temperature of 41.9C (107.4F), beating the previous record by 1C that had been set only 24 hours earlier.

Tuesday 16 December recorded an average of 40.9C across the continent, beating the previous record of 40.3C set on 7 January 2013. But it held the record for just 24 hours.

Wednesday was even hotter across the country, with the highest maximum temperature reached in Birdsville, Queensland, which hit 47.7C (117.8).

On Wednesday the lowest maximum was 19C at Low Head, Tasmania. On Thursday, Nullarbor in South Australia set the record for the hottest December day on record, recording 49.9C (121.8).

To calculate the average maximum, the Bureau of Meteorology takes the maximum temperatures recorded in about 700 locations, puts them into a grid, calculates an average, and then cross-checks this against its long-term quality controlled record, known as ACORN-SAT.

So why is Australia so hot?

Dr Karl Braganza, manager climate monitoring at the bureau, told Guardian Australia: “Natural variability and global warming are pushing in the same direction. That’s why we have broken records.”

During an awkward live cross on Nine’s Today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has assured Australians he “will follow the proper processes” if he decides to take another family holiday before the end of 2019.

Mr Morrison cut short his controversial trip to Hawaii and returned home on Saturday night after volunteer firefighters Andrew O’Dwyer, 36, and Geoff Keaton, 32, died during NSW fires.

But despite the storm of criticism sparked by his tropical getaway, Mr Morrison isn’t ruling out more time off.

“At the moment, If I get to take a few days with the family, I’ll always seek to do that,” he said.

The admission came during the discussion with Today’s fill-in host Jonathan Uptin, whose interviewing style veered between aggressive and docile.

As the spot – headlined ‘Burning questions’ – wrapped up, Nine’s Queensland weekend news host instructed Mr Morrison that if he does take another break, “make sure you will tell us as well, Prime Minister, won’t you?”

It was a jab about Mr Morrison’s failure to tell the public he was heading overseas last week. For days his office would not reveal where he and wife Jenny and their two daughters were.

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/tv/2019/12/23/scott-morrison-an...

As Sumdinglingson takes a new holiday, it's most likely that Aussieland is brought to its knees with a Noah's Ark flood of biblical proportion — or a couple of cyclones south of Noosa...

The New Daily’s expose of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Hawaiian holiday during Australia’s devastating bushfires has been named Scoop of the Year at Friday night’s Walkley Awards.

Former TND political editor Samantha Maiden claimed the award for the 2019 story  Hawaii Two-O: Scott Morrison’s bushfire holiday.

The Walkey Award judges found that Maiden’s story not only resulted in an apology from Mr Morrison, but had an impact on the PM’s approach to the pandemic just months later.

Maiden broke the story that the Prime Minister was on holiday in Hawaii while Australia endured its worst bushfire season on record.

For a week prior, the rumour mill had churned with Australians wondering where Mr Morrison was after he disappeared from view while the nation burned.

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/11/20/walkley-award-sam-maiden-morrison/

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