After touring Europe, Anthony Albanese is scheduled to arrive back in Australia late on Tuesday.
On Thursday morning, he will visit areas of Sydney that have been affected by flooding.
Senior Liberals Dan Tehan and Angus Taylor criticized the prime minister for being away so much during the weekend’s floods in NSW, where he has spent a third of his time in office.
On Tuesday morning, Mr. Albanese was defended by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who insisted that his trips to France and Ukraine were necessary.
The situation in NSW, where tens of thousands have been evacuated and thousands of homes have been flooded, was explained to Mr. Albanese by phone shortly after he left the war-torn Ukraine on Monday.
Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor, however, claimed he wasn’t going far enough.
Luke, it flooded for 48 hours, and [the Prime Minister] just now called Dominic Perrottet to see if he needed help, Mr. Taylor said to 2GB.
There are 30,000 people who have been ordered to leave their homes, but the prime minister is more worried about preserving his reputation on the international stage than ensuring that people in NSW have a place to stay.
More requests from NSW for assistance with flood-affected communities are being considered by the federal government.
Mr. Albanese also spoke with Premier Perrottet, who has declared a natural disaster and ordered the release of a number of payments and loans for people and businesses.
Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, who was speaking on Tuesday from flood-affected Richmond in northwest Sydney, told Nine Network, “He will be on the ground here later in the week.”
On Thursday, Mr. Albanese and Mr. Perrottet could begin their tour of the area.
David Littleproud, a front-runner in the opposition and the leader of the Nationals, told Nine that NSW must be given all the resources necessary to assist people.
When questioned about the “optics” of Mr. Albanese being abroad when the crisis started on Sunday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers responded that he had been collaborating with the NSW government.
The trips abroad, he claimed, were crucial.
But, as Mr. Chalmers noted to Nine, “a lot of that work has been necessary among our international partners because a lot of those relationships were run down.”
We haven’t been unable to advance our agenda at home despite this significant work on the global stage.
Following a request from the NSW government, the federal government has already committed 200 defense personnel and two helicopters to help with the emergency.
It is a developing situation, Mr. Marles said, adding that there are more requests that we are currently considering.
“We have first and foremost been very conscious of the need to coordinate with NSW.”
Mr. Perrottet was “very pleased with the degree of coordination,” according to Mr. Marles, who spoke with him on Monday night.
This is the fourth damaging flood event in less than 18 months for many of the affected communities.
There have been numerous evacuation orders and warnings issued, mostly in the region northwest of Sydney where the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers are experiencing significant flooding.
23 local governments in Greater Sydney and its environs will receive the disaster relief funds.
After receiving criticism for continuing his trip of France and Ukraine throughout the crisis, Mr. Albanese sent out a series of tweets on Wednesday about what he is doing to solve the fatal flooding in NSW.
The Opposition criticized the Prime Minister on Monday for being absent while his government was dealing with a domestic problem since he has spent 15 out of the first 43 days of his term abroad.
This represents one-third of the Prime Minister’s time in office.
Mr. Albanese claimed that he was only permitted to turn his phone back on and receive updates from his disaster management minister and the premier of New South Wales after his return from a trip to Ukraine.
While in the war-torn nation on Sunday to visit President Zelensky, he turned off his phone as a security precaution.
Having entered Poland from Ukraine, Mr. Albanese tweeted: “Radio quiet.”
My first course of action was to brief @murraywatt and @Dom Perrottet on the floods in NSW and make sure federal government aid is being given.
It’s an ever-changing issue. For the most recent guidance, please check @NSWSES and @BOM NSW.
One man was killed and hundreds of homes in Greater Sydney were evacuated as a result of the intense rain that pummeled NSW.
So far, 200 ADF personnel have been provided by the federal government.
The prime minister has been absent since last Sunday on business travels to a NATO summit in Spain, a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, and a high-security visit to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The hashtags “Airbus Albo” and “Where’s Albo” trended on Twitter, while some called him “Anthony Overseasy” despite the fact that all of the flights were on official business.
Some Australians felt that he should be tackling problems at home instead.
Since winning the election on May 21, Mr. Albanese has traveled over 45,000 km on trips to Japan, Indonesia, the UAE, Spain, France, Poland, and Ukraine, where he declared on Sunday that an additional $100 million in military aid from Australian taxpayers would be provided to Ukraine.