Craig Kelly described as an ’embarrassment’ to Australia after interview with Piers Morgan

An Australian politician who went head-to-head with Piers Morgan was banned by his boss from appearing on television months earlier due to his controversial views on climate change.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain breakfast program on Monday to defend Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision to take a family trip to Hawaii during the nation’s bushfire crisis.  

Mr Kelly’s refusal to acknowledge the impact of climate change led Morgan to describe him as ‘disgraceful’ throughout the train wreck interview.

The extraordinary exchange came less than three months after Mr Morrison banned him from appearing on Australian program Q&A due to his refusal to acknowledge the impacts of climate change.

On September 16 a scheduled appearance involving Mr Kelly on ABC’s Q&A was cancelled and his time slot filled by Liberal senator James Paterson.

Craig Kelly has been ridiculed for his response on the segment and described as an ’embarrassment’ to Australia

Residents look on as flames burn through bush on January 04, in Lake Tabourie, NSW

Residents look on as flames burn through bush on January 04, in Lake Tabourie, NSW

Mr Kelly later confirmed his request to appear on the show was denied by the prime minister’s office, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. 

Mr Morrison has been working hard to shed the Liberal Party of its reputation as a party brimming with climate deniers. 

A week prior to his scheduled appearance, Mr Kelly publicly disagreed with the widely accepted notion that the South Pacific island of Tuvalu was sinking as surrounding water levels rose.

Craig Kelly banned from ABC’s Q&A 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison denied Crag Kelly’s request to appear on ABC’s Q&A in September.

He was reportedly trying to change the public’s perception of the Liberal Party as climate deniers.

Mr Kelly was reportedly preparing documents to support his claims the scientific evidence surrounding climate change is a ‘lie’ and ‘fraud’. 

Instead, he said the nation was ‘floating, not sinking [due to climate change]’, because it was a coral atoll and ‘a coral atoll actually floats on the ocean’. 

He also suggested the public find ‘old photographs’ of Australian landmarks and compare them to present day to prove that waters haven’t risen.

Just days after the Q&A episode aired, Mr Kelly appeared in parliament to deny a link between climate change and the drought which is still crippling Australia. 

He was, however, granted approval to appear on Good Morning Britain to discuss the catastrophic fires in Australia, which have already claimed 25 lives this season. 

In the 24 hours since it aired, Kelly has been criticised by people around the world for his handling of the situation, with one person labelling him an ’embarrassment’ to Australia.

‘Craig Kelly is incredibly embarrassing… Sorry UK,’ one person wrote on Twitter while tagging the MP.

‘There I was thinking Australian Politicians couldn’t act any worse than #Scottyfrommarketing but then Craig Kelly steps up to the plate and does a TV interview,’ another added.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a press conference on the governments' bushfire response on Monday

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a press conference on the governments’ bushfire response on Monday

Others said the My Kelly is ‘as laughable in Australia as he now is in the UK.’

‘Truly embarrassed he’s a representative… You not only don’t belong in our parliament, you don’t belong in this century. What a complete waste of my hard earned taxes.’

Mr Kelly lashed out at ITV meteorologist Laura Tobin earlier on Tuesday after she said he was a ‘climate change denier’ during the interview. 

He shared Daily Mail’s article about the interview on Facebook and wrote sarcastically: ‘Oh no! Ignorant Pommy weather girl calls me a ”climate change denier”.’

Miss Tobin responded in a scathing Twitter post, pointing out she was a qualified meteorologist with a degree in physics.

Meteorologist Miss Tobin told Mr Kelly that Australia had experienced its hottest and driest year ever year on record 'with forecasts records that go back more than 100 years'

Meteorologist Miss Tobin told Mr Kelly that Australia had experienced its hottest and driest year ever year on record ‘with forecasts records that go back more than 100 years’

‘I know what I’m talking about, do you?’ she wrote.

She later appeared on The Project where she further described her disappointment with Mr Kelly’s stance on climate issues.

‘I’m certain I know significantly more than he does about the topic,’ she said after listing her qualifications and experience – which spans more than a decade.

‘Everybody just needs to be informed… When I watched him yesterday I just felt really infuriated.

‘Because if he’s not informed and he’s setting these policies – or lack of policies – then that has a massive effect not just on Australia but across the whole world.’  

Firefighters have spent weeks defending lives and property from the blazes. Pictured: Two firefighters doing what they can to stop the fire in Batlow on Saturday

Firefighters have spent weeks defending lives and property from the blazes. Pictured: Two firefighters doing what they can to stop the fire in Batlow on Saturday

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr Kelly apologised to Ms Tobin, after his Facebook post criticising her attracted unfavourable comments.

‘I apologise to Ms Tobin to referring to her as the weather girl, as I understood that this was her position on the TV show,’ he told News Corp.

‘However I now understand that she is a meteorologist who reads the weather for that station.’

Mr Kelly is on the right wing of the Liberal Party and heavily criticised former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s controversial plan for a national energy and emissions policy.

During the interview on Monday, he said that the fires were caused by poor forest management rather than climate change.

As the fire front approached, the sky was filled with orange flames and thick, grey plumes of smoke

As the fire front approached, the sky was filled with orange flames and thick, grey plumes of smoke 

Mr Kelly said: ‘You have to look at the science, but one of the factors contributing are the fuel loads. Every commission post bushfire says we need to reduce them, but we always fail to do so.

‘Our lifestyle depends on fossil fuels, it can’t be done without it. Some politicians have hijacked the debate to push their ideological barrow but what causes fires? Drought and build-up of fuel loads.’

But Morgan interjected with a scathing assessment of Australian politics, referring the conversation back to Mr Morrison’s Hawaiian getaway and describing it as a ‘dereliction of his duty as leader.’  

‘The truth is, he was absent when the fires were burning. Scott Morrison thought the right response to these fires erupting in Australia was to go lie on the beach in Hawaii,’ Morgan said. 

Pictured: Mr Morrison during a business trip to Fiji in August

Pictured: Mr Morrison during a business trip to Fiji in August

'I get it that people would have been upset': Mr Morrison (pictured in Hawaii) acknowledged he had caused deep pain by leaving the country as bushfires ravaged the nation

‘I get it that people would have been upset’: Mr Morrison (pictured in Hawaii) acknowledged he had caused deep pain by leaving the country as bushfires ravaged the nation 

The host said the crisis was catastrophic, and made all the more difficult by politicians who were refusing to acknowledge the impact of climate change.

‘You’re facing one of the greatest crises you’ve ever faced and there is you Mr Kelly, with respect a senior politician, who still doesn’t think this has anything to do with a heating up planet,’ he said. 

‘Nothing to see here, nothing to worry about as virtually your entire country is eviscerated by fires – it is quite extraordinary.’

As Mr Kelly continued to deny any wrongdoing on behalf of the nation’s leader, Morgan cut the interview short. 

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said early indications suggest hundreds of homes were lost across NSW in Saturday's blaze

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said early indications suggest hundreds of homes were lost across NSW in Saturday’s blaze

‘We’re going to leave it there Mr Kelly. I’ve just got to say wake up. Climate change and global warming are real and Australia is right now showing the entire world how devastating it is,’ he said. 

‘For politicians in Australia to still pretend there is no connection is absolutely disgraceful.’

Australia’s devastating bushfire season has so far cost at least 25 people their lives, destroyed more than 1,500 homes and incinerated nearly five million hectares of land.

Authorities also fear half a billion animals perished in the blazes, which have been burning through much of the east coast since October.

Miss Tobin interrupted Craig Kelly during a debate - which also included Australian tennis legend Pat Cash - after taking issue with Mr Kelly's comment that the fires were caused by a droughts and poor forest management

Miss Tobin interrupted Craig Kelly during a debate – which also included Australian tennis legend Pat Cash – after taking issue with Mr Kelly’s comment that the fires were caused by a droughts and poor forest management

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