Part of the role of being a leader is... leading. The presence of top elected officials reassures the public that somebody is in charge and gives a shit about about what is happening.

When a leader goes off on vacation while some event happens, it puts off the impression that the government is ineffective and out of touch. It undermines the people on the ground who perhaps are doing something.

Also, in terms of "What would he have done for the fires", there are any number of things. The gravitas of having the man on top demanding action ensures that things happen quickly. As a trivial example, if the Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Brush Fire Extinguishing needs X, he'll get it when the truck or helicopter is available. When the PM needs it, the truck or helicopter is made available, period. Or it could be as simple as giving some sort of speech in your crisis windbreaker to rally the troops.

I don’t expect a CEO of a startup or corp to squash bugs or submit PRs, and similarly I don’t expect a PM to literally put fires out.

I do expect him to show leadership in times of crisis, bring unity, and just ‘be there’, especially when so many volunteers are fighting the fires and his countrymen are dying and losing their homes.

Admit that Australian coal extraction is unsustainable and then resign? Admittedly that does nothing for these fires, but without some change future ones are going to be worse.

Bringing that lump of coal into Parliament was a declaration that he wasn't going to care if Australia burnt to the ground so long as he got his share of the coal money.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/09/scott...

Australia are introducing very harsh laws targeting climate / environmental activists. He could start by reversing those. E.g. Tasmania, up to 21 year jail term for trespass.

Regardless, it still looks bad. Captain goes down with their ship and all.

Leadership.

It doesn't mean you're fighting the fires but it does mean you're staying informed, keeping people motivated through long hours and bad news and ready to make difficult decisions.

pragmatism is nice but the goal of government is not only to affect the problem, moral support, presence is critical IMO

Yea I see people make arguments like this all the time. We frequently get news articles about leaders who aren’t in the capital legislating/leading despite the fact that these people never really escape their work even if they do travel.

The PM isn’t going to do much of anything at this point. The time for the PM to act is prior to the fires starting.

Not reject international assistance.