Is Tony Abbot rushing off to help fight bushfires really
helpful? I am aware that Mr Abbott has been part off of the
Davidson Rural Fire Brigade as a volunteer since 2000, because
the *Australian kindly informed me.
Now, I am sure that being an active sort of guy, Mr Abbott is a
valued member of his Rural Fire Brigade, what I am not sure of is
the benefit of Mr Abbott causing a distraction in what is a very
serious circumstance down there near Nowra? Every photo we
have seen so far, and yes there are photo’s online already, most
are almost putinesque in their ‘action man’ shots of our
Opposition Leader in his Fireman garb, with the obligatory camera
or microphone shoved in his **face?
If Mr Abbott was at a staging area, not getting in the way,
calling for more support for Rural Fire Brigades, happy
days... I live in an area that is reliant on them and know
how much work they put in, volunteering thousands of hours, often
missing out on pay & holidays to help others that in many
cases they don’t even know. To be a volunteer with the
local Rural Fire Brigade is a commendable thing to do and I
admire them greatly. For all I know, Mr Abbott thoroughly
enjoys his time spent with the Fire Brigade and as he is on
holidays, he has every right to volunteer his time as he wishes,
(in fact having lived in Mr Abbotts area decades ago, the Rural
Fire Brigade is an apt choice for the sporty-type volunteer) but,
did he have to tell everyone about it? Here is where my
problem is. No-one knows the names of these guys, they are
taking time out of their normal lives at the moment to help
others, putting themselves in danger, and along comes Mr Abbott
with the accompanying media scrum? Really? That is
appropriate at this time when vast swathes of the country are
burning?
Both the Queensland & New South Wales Governments have really
knocked around the Rural Fire Brigades in recent times, so maybe
I could have a little bit more respect for Mr Abbott taking time
off his holidays to volunteer if he was raising that as an issue
and helping to resource them further? Hell, even just
helping with a bit of PR for ‘them’ and calling for more to take
an interest in the Rural Fire Brigade? Unfortunately Mr
Abbott does not seem to be taking the opportunity to do either of
these things, so as a punter, I am therefore left with the
cynical feeling that I am just looking at a PR stunt pulled
directly from the Vladimir Putin playbook. Hopefully we
Australians, unlike the Russians, are a little less inclined to
applaud open manly bravado? Or not?
Best wishes to all our Volunteer Fire Fighters out there, stay
safe and thankyou!
Cheers
Noely (YaThinkN)
* "Volunteer firefighter Tony Abbott joins
the bushfire front line", RICK MORTON From:
The Australian January 09, 2013 10:33AM
PS. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that any article in
the Australia which is flattering to Mr Abbott is never behind
the paywall? Or am I being cynical and in the interests of
‘balanced reporting’, that courtesy is also paid to Prime
Minister Julia Gillard when the Australian writes a flattering
article about her? :)
Important Stuff!
For National Information on Fires: http://www.abc.net.au/news/emergency/
For Queensland Fire and Rescue Service-
:http://www.ruralfire.qld.gov.au/ or
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/QldFireandRescueService
or Twitter: @QldFire
