Scott Morrison Suffers Awkward Gaffe After Claiming No One Died In Kangaroo Island Bushfire

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been left red faced after talking to people on Kangaroo Island.

The island, just off the coast of South Australia, was decimated when a raging bushfire swept through after New Year's Day.

Two people, bush pilot Dick Lang and his youngest son Clayton, were killed while trying to defend their property. More than 160,000 hectares of land was burned to a crisp, including the world-famous Southern Ocean Lodge.

Mr Morrison toured the island to see the scale of the devastation and this is where he made his rather awkward blunder.

Speaking to locals with South Australian Premier Steven Marshall, the Prime Minister was captured saying: "Thankfully we've had no loss of life."

Channel 9

A woman quipped back with: "Two. We've lost two."

"Two. Yes two, that's quite right. I was thinking about firefighters firstly," Mr Morrison said.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister told the ABC that he was talking about the firefighting effort when the gaffe happened.

Michael Pengilly, the Mayor of Kangaroo Island, told ABC News: "It has been absolutely devastating. The destruction is immense. To have an island more or less half burnt is unbelievable."

Mr Marshall added that support for those affected by the fires would be addressed, and a community recovery officer has been appointed.

7 News

He said: "It's clear that South Australia has had an extraordinarily difficult time with extensive damage right across our state. Our focus at the moment is doing everything that we possibly can to contain the fire on Kangaroo Island.

"But very quickly our focus will move onto recovery."

Kangaroo Island is bracing for a spike in fire danger today with a total fire ban being declared across the whole island. The Country Fire Service, along with the police, evacuated the town of Vivonne Bay on the south coast.

"This is a pre-emptive relocation due to the increased fire risk," the CFS said.

"Currently, there is no immediate threat to life or property but with increasing wind, warmer weather and going fires on Kangaroo Island, this situation is likely to change."

If you want to help those affected by the devastating bushfires, click here.

Topics: News, Bushfires, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie