'The country's dying': Alan Jones attacks Scott Morrison over drought in fiery interview

Scott Morrison and Sydney radio host Alan Jones went head-to-head in a fiery interview over the government’s response to drought-ravaged communities in Australia.

Mr Jones asked the prime minister what he thought about a farmer writing in to the radio show and saying, “You’re going to interview Morrison, why bother?”

Mr Morrison responded by saying he was doing “exactly what I told the Australian people I was going to do,” saying the government just supplied an additional $318.5 million to farmers.

While Mr Morrison went on to justify where the government spending would be, Mr Jones cut him off to play a call he received last Friday from a Bourke resident, in the far northwest of NSW.

‘Give us some bloody hope Scott, my town is dying’

In the call, Mark said he voted for Mr Morrison in the last federal election, explaining he thought Mr Morrison would bring hope.

Mark explained the river in Bourke was “going to be dry at the end of December” and three of his four kids had moved away from Bourke as there’s “no hope” in the town.

“We're a real tough mob. We put up with drought and we put up with dust storms, but we always have hope,” Mark said on the call.

“Give us some bloody hope Scott. My town is dying, the country's dying and you're not giving us hope.”

Mark criticised Mr Morrison for not actually having a practical solution to help the farmers.

“We know it will rain,” Mark said, quite emotional at this point. “My town is dying, the country’s dying and you’ve not given us hope.”

Mr Morrison told Mr Jones he spoke to Mark on the phone on Monday, saying he spoke to Mark and “took him through all the things we were doing”.

At the end of the call, Mark apparently said to Mr Morrison “This is the hope I was looking for, Scott”, according to Mr Morrison.

‘Farmers need cash now’

Mr Jones then tried to cut Mr Morrison off and urged the prime minister to think about today, not the long term.

“You're talking about long term viability. I'm talking about today. Right now, the farmers cannot afford fodder and water to keep their breeding stock alive and they can't afford to get it from where it is to where they need it,” Mr Jones said.

“These people, Prime Minister, cannot survive today. They are sending the breeding stock to the sale yard to be slaughtered, they're walking off their farms. They need cash now. Now.”

Mr Jones pointed out how Australia provided $1 billion to Indonesia after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and asked what the government can do ‘today’.

“The direct cash grant support going into farming communities, including directly to farmers,” Mr Morrison started to say before Mr Jones interjected by saying “They’re not getting it!”

Which prompted Mr Morrison to ask Mr Jones to let him finish before clarifying the direct cash grant “is $318.5 million”.

The Prime Minister then went into the specifics of where the money was going to be allocated, “PM, how does that feed a cow?” Mr Jones said.

“Don’t talk to me, I’m a farmer’s son, you’re not,” Mr Jones said.

Mr Morrison argued fodder and freight subsidies were the responsibility of state governments.

“They can’t afford the component of the subsidies,” Mr Jones said. “They can’t afford it!”

Mr Jones called for Mr Morrison to “take over”, as the drought is a “national disaster”. Mr Jones also suggested the prime minister go tell his wife to live on $250 a week.

"It's not $250 a week Alan,” Mr Morrison said. “It's not just that.”

Scott Morrison says he can’t make it rain

Mr Morrison admitted there was more the government could do.

“The government - whether it's state federal or anyone else - we can do a lot of things to try and help people get through this. But the government can't make it rain,” Mr Morrison said.

"And the government can't make life as it was before the drought. And if anyone is suggesting that could be done, then they are lying to the people of rural and regional Australia."

The prime minister was also urged to release a report authored by drought co-ordinator Stephen Day.

"He provided that report to the government... it's coming through cabinet at present," Mr Morrison said.

“We want the farmers and the communities to get through this drought, but we can't kid ourselves that there's a magic wand and a magic cash splash that is going to make this thing totally solved," Mr Morrison said.

with AAP.

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