Scott Morrison has praised the contribution of New Zealand firefighters during his speech at the New Year's Day Cricket Australia reception at Kirribilli House. "In all of these terrible events, be it the fires or the White Island tragedy, as in so many our times before, Australia and New Zealand have always stood together. And that has been very true on this occasion as well," the prime minister said. Mr Morrison also thanked both teams for the decision to wear black armbands during Friday's test to honour the lives of those lost during the devastating fires.

Scott Morrison has landed himself in hot water again after remarks about the bushfires and cricket.

The Prime Minister was speaking on Wednesday afternoon at a reception for the Australian and New Zealand cricket sides at Kirribilli House, which is a yearly tradition.

Mr Morrison said it was a time of great challenge for Australia and the fires were happening against the backdrop of the Australia-New Zealand test match.

“Whether they’re started by lightning storms or whatever the cause may be, our firefighters and all of those have come behind them to support them, whether they’re volunteering on the front line or behind the scenes in a great volunteer effort, it is something that will happen against the backdrop of this test match,” he said.

“But at the same time Australians will be gathered whether it’s at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) or around television sets all around the country and they’ll be inspired by the great feats of our cricketers from both sides of the Tasman and I think they’ll be encouraged by the spirit shown by Australians and the way that people have gone about remembering the terrible things that other Australians are dealing with at the moment.”

Many were not impressed with his sentiment, saying they weren’t inspired by the cricket at all.

Seriously?!

Who is advising this bloke that while the country burns it would be a good look for him to take a photo with blokes who play a GAME!!!



YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS RIGHT NOW. #bushfiresAustralia #SydneyTest pic.twitter.com/xEWX6tsa2g — Liam Flanagan (@ljflannas) January 1, 2020

The fact that Morrison is nonchalantly hosting backyard cricket at Kirribilli while the nation burns and mourns is abominable. He may be PM — but he is not a leader https://t.co/aJuXBgTMlZ — Asher Wolf (@Asher_Wolf) January 1, 2020

Scott Morrison: smile!!! how good's the cricket!!!??!

Australia: pic.twitter.com/zDthnoS4mS — Omar Sakr (@OmarjSakr) January 1, 2020

Congratulations to Scott Morrison for putting in a performance as a national leader during an emergency that is actually at sub-Trump level.



One longs to be tossed some paper towel. Anything.#auspol #firecrisis — Van Badham (@vanbadham) January 1, 2020

Honestly wondering, what IS wrong with #ScottMorrison? No normal human reactions are coming from him. It is actually bizarre. Please explain. #auspol #AustraliaBurns 🔥🔥🔥 — Chris Wallace (@c_s_wallace) January 1, 2020

Some said he should not have even been at the reception while bushfires continue to rage across the country.

LATEST ON THE FIRE EMERGENCY HERE

“I’m inspired by the firefighters, by the police, by the community lifting together. By the resilience of Australians and unity right now. NOT by the cricketers,” wrote one woman on Twitter.

Another man commented, “This is far and away the most mind numbingly banal, tin eared and ludicrously inappropriate thing anyone could possibly say in these circumstances”.

Another man said he read the comment out to his family and they were stunned in silence.

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One even asked if it was satire and said it couldn’t be real.

Another said, “I love cricket, but this is close to insane. Trying to mesh some enjoyable sport with a national disaster is pretty much madness”.

It is a yearly tradition for the Australian cricket team and touring national side to meet with the Prime Minister at Kirribilli House on New Year’s Day.

Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard all took part in the festivities when they were in the role.

Morrison copped plenty of criticism in November when he posted a tweet saying Tim Paine and his teammate would give the firefighters and fire-impacted communities “something to cheer for”.

Going to be a great summer of cricket, and for our firefighters and fire-impacted communities, I’m sure our boys will give them something to cheer for.@GabbaBrisbane @CricketAus #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/iHF1mGPrAH — Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) November 20, 2019

Your response to the fires is literally crickets — Michael Beveridge (@mickyb273) November 20, 2019

Morrison, to 500 families sifting through the ashes of their own homes: “How good is cricket?” https://t.co/UIyNz9mi4x — Stilgherrian (@stilgherrian) November 20, 2019

Australian captain Paine acknowledged the firefighters on Wednesday, thanking them for their service and calling them “true heroes”.

“On behalf of the Australian team, I would like to thank the brave men and women who are fighting fires across the country,” he said.

“They are the true heroes of the Aussie summer.”

A further three deaths have been confirmed from the New Year’s Eve fires on the NSW south coast while another man was killed in Victoria’s fire-ravaged East Gippsland region.

The third Test between Australian and New Zealand commences on Friday.