PM phones Michael Gunner after lack of contact with Northern Territory contrasted with Monday’s visit to bushfire-ravaged town of Tathra

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Malcolm Turnbull has sent his thoughts to Darwin, in a phone call to the chief minister five days after Cyclone Marcus tore through the city.

The prime minister contacted the Northern Territory chief minister, Michael Gunner, on Wednesday morning, speaking for about three to four minutes. They mainly discussed the federally funded Australian defence force personnel based in Darwin helping out with the cyclone recovery.

It followed sustained local media coverage of Turnbull’s apparent silence over the cyclone which hit Darwin on Saturday as a category two on Saturday, uprooting hundreds of trees, damaging houses and buildings, and knocking out power for more than 26,000 people.

Cyclone Marcus leaves tens of thousands in Darwin without power or drinkable water Read more

Four days on about 1,500 homes remained without electricity.

Turnbull’s lack of contact with the NT was compared with his visit on Monday to the New South Wales town of Tathra after a devastating bushfire destroyed about 70 homes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Malcolm Turnbull toured a burned-out area in the NSW town of Tathra on Monday. Photograph: Dean Lewins/EPA

“I know very well there are fires down south, I know politicians and the prime minister have visited those areas, and well done for that,” the Darwin lord mayor, Kon Vatskalis, told ABC Radio Darwin. “But I think somebody should show some interest for the 120,000 people here in Darwin who went through that [cyclone].”

On Tuesday the federal government announced financial assistance of $250 per person, for those who had been without power for 72 hours.

The opposition leader. Bill Shorten, who also visited Tathra, called Gunner on Monday.

The strength of the cyclone caught many by surprise, and was labelled a “wake-up call” for potentially complacent residents.

It came amid warnings from climate scientists about the likelihood of stronger cyclones in the future due to the effects of climate change, and calls for the Gunner government not to exacerbate it by lifting a moratorium on fracking.

The NT is keeping an eye on a second potential cyclone later this week. A tropical low has formed in the Arafura Sea and forecasters have warned it could develop on Thursday or Friday into a cyclone, likely tracking south-east towards the Gove peninsula and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Michael Gunner (@fanniebay) This morning I visited Parap Primary (open) & pre school (closed power trees). There are still several thousand customers without power. @PowerWaterCorp crews working incredibly hard & remaining tasks are difficult. The PM this morning passed his thoughts on to all #cyclonemarcus pic.twitter.com/JMpXNrGoNo

Dr Graeme Pearman, the former chief of atmospheric research at the CSIRO, told Guardian Australia rising sea temperatures meant the strength of individual cyclones was likely to increase over time, and faster rising sea levels in Australia’s north increased the potential for damaging inundations.



Pearman said scientific research warned against doing anything which exacerbated the rate of warming.

Patience wears thin for Tathra residents as they wait to return to bushfire-ravaged town Read more

The Australia Institute, which released a report on Tuesday about dramatic increases in the number of days over 35C in the NT, called on the territory government not to lift its moratorium on fracking – a decision due imminently.

“We know that greenhouse gases increase the ocean temperatures, which in turn increases the intensity of cyclones,” a spokesman for the organisation, Mark Ogge, said.

“If the Northern Territory lifted the fracking moratorium just one gas field will increase Australia’s emissions by at least 5% and triple the territory’s emissions,” he said, referring to potential gas exploration in the Beetaloo basin.

“This decision would throw fuel on the fire and effectively increase the intensity of cyclones that hit Australia.”