“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined
by results not attributes.” ~ Peter Drucker
Former US President George W. Bush was heavily criticised for his response to Hurricane Katrina
in the summer of 2005 — one of the worst natural disasters in US history.
This is a picture of him looking out the window of Air Force One as he flies over New Orleans,
Louisiana, surveying the damage left by the hurricane.
It turns out Mr Bush had been on holidays at his Texas ranch for 27 days when Katrina
made landfall.
But it wasn’t until disaster turned into catastrophe that his aides advised him to
cut his holiday short and return home two days early to preside over the federal response.
This photo was supposed to capture a heartfelt moment with the President showing great concern
for the population below, but the PR stunt quickly backfired.
Many Americans saw this photo as evidence that Mr Bush was too distant from the misery
below.
This is not too dissimilar to the current crisis in Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison decided to take a holiday in Hawaii while Australia continued
to burn.
It wasn’t until public pressure mounted and people started dying, that he decided
to cut his holiday short and respond to the bushfire crisis.
But it was too late.
He had already shown his true colours and the public realised that he just wasn’t
that interested in the concerns of ordinary Australians.
On Thursday, 2 January 2020, to try to fix the unfolding PR disaster, he decided to visit
the small NSW town of Cobargo where two people had recently died.
A bushfire swept through the small Bega Valley town two days earlier leaving nothing but
devastation in its path.
I suppose some of the PM’s advisers recommended that he visit some of the fire-ravaged regions
to show that he’s a man of the people, but as with George Bush and Hurricane Katrina,
the ploy backfired.
When he arrived, he was confronted by a group of angry locals willing to tell him exactly
how they felt.
As an angry resident approached asking some valid questions, the PM turned his back and
walked away.
“How come we only have four trucks to defend our town, because our town doesn’t have
a lot of money, but we have hearts of gold Mr Prime Minister?”.
Other residents commented on their future voting intentions.
“You won’t be getting any votes down here, buddy!
You’re an idiot!
Who votes Liberal round here?
Nobody!
No single vote!
You’re out scum!
You are out!”.
Another resident, who is pregnant and had no intention of shaking the Prime Minister’s
hand, had her hand picked up by the PM and shaken.
She said, “I’m only shaking your hand if you give more funding to our RFS.
So many people here have lost their homes.
We need more help!”.
At that point, Mr Morrison turned his back and walked away.
Other residents swore at him and told him he should be “ashamed of himself” after
he “left the country to burn”.
In another encounter, Mr Morrison went to shake the hand of an exhausted firefighter,
but the firefighter didn’t seem too pleased: “I don't really want to shake your hand”.
So the PM grabbed his hand anyway.
Afterwards, he was speaking with the incident controller and said, “Tell that fella I’m
really sorry.
I’m sure he’s just tired”, with the controller responding, “No, no.
He’s lost a house”.
The expression on the PMs face seems to indicate that he thinks that there’s something somewhat
amusing about the whole situation.
I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and presume that he was just nervous.
And finally, when the PM (or his minders) realised that they had overstayed their welcome
and began to leave, the residents began to really let loose: “Piece of sh**!”; “Give
us money you tight f***!”; “Get in the car, and piss off!”.
And the crowd cheered as he left.
Mr Morrison responded afterwards,
“I'm not surprised people are feeling very raw at the moment.
That's why I came today, to be here, to see it for myself and offer what comfort I could.
I understand the strong feelings people have; they've lost everything.
There's been a lot of emotion... and I understand that emotion.”
Long-term ally, NSW's Transport Minister, Andrew Constance, said he was not informed
that the Prime Minister would be visiting his electorate of Bega.
He said,
“To be honest with you, the locals probably gave him the welcome he probably deserved.
I say this to the Prime Minister today, the nation wants you to open up the cheque books,
obviously help people rebuild their lives.”
Mr Morrison responded,
“I totally understand how he'd be feeling.
I've reached out to him today, and offered that apology to him.
I was under the understanding that we had made contact with him.
That wasn't the case.
And that's regretted.
But I assumed that he was otherwise occupied on that day, which would be completely understandable.
But Andrew's been through a terrible, terrible experience and ordeal, and so I totally understand
how he'd be feeling.”
In other news, residents and tourists in the coastal Victorian town of Mallacoota, are
in the process of being evacuated by the Australian Navy.
Apparently it’s the largest peacetime evacuation in Australian history with almost 4,000 people
being stranded since New Year’s Eve.
It’s certainly not easy being leader.
But one thing that you have to do is act promptly in these kinds of situations.
You can’t be seen to be off on holidays with your family having fun in Hawaii, while
regular Australians are suffering.
As a leader, you have to show strength, but you also have to show compassion.
Unfortunately for Mr Morrison, he hasn’t shown much of that in recent days.