Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is defending his bushfire response, and suggesting media are to blame for only highlighting the way people have acted "hostile" towards him.
"There's a myriad of responses you get in these environments and when you take the media along, they will focus on some elements and they won't focus on others," he told the ABC in a prickly interview.
Mr Morrison said it was not the how he was greeted by everyone in Cobargo, where he forced a reluctant woman to shake his hand .
"That wasn't the universal response as the pub owner at Cobargo and the bushfire captain made clear," he said.
"I've been out there on fire grounds and meeting people since September – these fires started in Queensland when I was up there in Canungra meeting those who had been affected.
"There's a variety of responses you get in these events – people are very emotionally raw, people have lost everything and I obviously don't take that personally.
"The decision I take is to turn up, to show up and if people are upset, I will listen to that upset. If people are looking for comfort, I will provide that comfort and have been pleased to do so on so many occasions."
Mr Morrison has also been criticised for going on holiday to Hawaii amid the devastation, and for his stance that climate change is not linked to the current raging fires.
"Of course global changes in the environment and the climate have a broader impact on the world's weather systems," Mr Morrison said.
"What we've always said though is you cannot link any single emissions reduction policy of a country, whether it's Australia or anywhere else, to a specific fire event – that's just absurd and to suggest it's the case would be simply wrong."
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