Controversial comedian FriendlyJordies has raised money for bushfire charities by selling T-shirts that brand NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian a ‘koala killer’.
Also known as Jordan Shanks, the comedian has attacked the NSW Premier for not blaming climate change for bushfires burning in the state’s north, a claim disputed by conservative politicians who say the fires were caused by increased fuel loads.
The YouTube star is selling T-shirts with Ms Berejiklian’s face and shoulders overlaid with the hashtag ‘#KoalaKiller’ in large white letters.
YouTube comedian Jordan Shanks said on November 15 he will donate all proceeds from the controversial T-shirts to the NSW Rural Fire Service and wildlife rescue group Wires.
Underneath the image in tiny letters is written ‘in my opinion’.
The faces of four disembodied koalas float forlornly in the background of the graphic like ghosts.
FriendlyJordies first tweeted the T-shirts were for sale with all profits going to wildlife-rescue charity Wires and the volunteer New South Wales Rural Fire Service on November 15
Mr Shanks again branded the NSW Premier as a ‘koala killer’ in a video uploaded to YouTube on Thursday and it had been viewed more than 103,000 times as of noon on Saturday.
FriendlyJordies attacked NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) for not blaming climate change for the fires. Conservative politicians have blamed the drought combined with increased fuel loads for the intensity of the bushfires, rather than gradual climate change
Shanks (pictured) urged viewers to #koalakiller on social media. It then trended on Twitter
The video outlines drastic budget cuts in the 2019-2020 budget by the Liberal party for fire and rescue, including a 75 per cent cut for the Rural Fire Service, and offering drought relief funds to towns in marginal seats that aren’t effected by drought conditions.
Mr Shanks calls the fires the ‘greatest catastrophe to have ever faced this nation’s history’.
‘Get this hashtag going, #koalakiller,’ Shanks said.
‘Post that nickname on every update she makes on social media from now until the day that she is faithfully booted out of office and if there is any justice left in the world, thrown in jail.’
The hashtags #BerejiklianBushfires and #KoalaKiller began trending on Twitter with FriendlyJordies supporters posting messages blaming Ms Berejiklian directly and personally for the fires.
‘This is your legacy @GladysB,’ wrote Twitter user Nick Chugg.
‘For the rest of your life you will be tied irrevocably to the #BerejiklianBushfires !’
Mr Shanks also promised to donate money from his live Twitch comedy stream on Friday night to charities supporting the bushfires.
Daily Mail Australia contacted both Mr Shanks and the Premier’s office for this story but did not receive a reply by time of publication.
Ms Berejiklian on Tuesday announced $25 million in funding for clean-up costs and said all tip fees would be waived ‘so people can start rebuilding their lives’.
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service was battling 48 fires on Saturday of which 25 were not contained.
Berejikilian (pictured) is also called ‘nightmare big bird’ and ‘ferret woman’ in the video, while deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack is labelled ‘arsonic McCormack.’
More than 600 homes have been destroyed in New South Wales since bushfire season began on October 1 with more than 500 burnt to the ground in the last two weeks, a Rural Fire Service spokesman told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday.
Major bushfires have killed hundreds of people in Australia since the mid 1850s, mostly in New South Wales and Victoria.
The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria killed 173 people and injured 414.
A combination of highly flammable eucalyptus bush, rugged terrain, periodic droughts and hot temperatures make Australia’s east coast bushland one of the most fire-prone habitats in the world.
For thousands of years before European colonisation, Aboriginal people used fire farming to hunt, to burn off undergrowth and to keep trails clear, the National Museum of Australia says on its website.
Over millenia, these controlled burns favoured the survival of fire-resistant plant species and kept the fuel load of dead plant material low, reducing each fire’s intensity.
Recent severe bushfires have been blamed by some on climate change and by others on increased fuel loads due to a lack of hazard-reduction burning.
Ms Berejiklian and other politicians including Prime Minister Scott Morrison have denied changing climate conditions, which are gradual, have anything to do with the recent bushfires.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro criticised the NSW National Parks Service for not backburning enough in the lead-up to bushfire season.
‘We need to do more hazard reduction, (burning) in national parks to manage the fuel load,’ he told The Australian earlier this month.
‘Everyone knows that this is a real issue and I’ve got the guts to say it.’
Pyrogeography Professor David Bowman from the University of Tasmania said Aboriginal fire farming practices could help Australia manage its fire crisis.
‘The growing fire crisis means it’s vital western science and Aboriginal knowledge are brought together to make communities as fire-safe as possible,’ he wrote in The Conversation.