Former Australia PM Scott Morrison defends coal industry amid catastrophic blazes

Scott Morrison, Australian Prime Minister continues to defend the nation’s reliance on the coal industry and its emissions targets in the wake of catastrophic wildfires.

He returned from holiday amid much criticism earlier this week to a continued spread of infernos across the country.

He seeks to put distance between climate change and the ongoing fires.

“Australia is taking action on climate change,” he told Australia’s Nine News. “What we won’t do is engage in reckless, job destroying and economy crunching targets.”

He added that he would not consider down-scaling the nation’s coal industry. Australia is a world leader in coal exports and natural liquefied gas.

“I am not going to write off the jobs of thousands of Australians by walking away from traditional industries”, he told the nation’s Channel Seven News.

“I’m going to maintain the course of responsible management, responsibly addressing the changes of climate change and responsibly ensuring that we can grow our economy in what is a very tough climate at the moment,” he added.

The original article can be found here.