Wagga Wagga Councillor Vanessa Keenan has posted a emotional open letter to Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack after her family was forced to shelter from the Dunn's Road fire burning in southeast NSW.
In the letter, the Labor councillor asked Mr McCormack, whose electorate includes Wagga Wagga and the wider Riverina region, whether he thought about the communities that would be affected by inaction on climate change.
"When I keep filling my water bottle to ease my sore throat and lungs, I think of you. When I hugged my family today who for over 24 hours thought we were lost, I’m thinking of you. Did you think of us," she said, in the Facebook post on Thursday.
"I have tears in my eyes writing this letter to you. I’m desperate, the whole country is desperate."
The Labor councillor detailed grabbing her "mum's precious belongings" and sheltering in a fire bunker with her family for three hours as the fire, which is currently 130,000 hectares in size and out of control, passed by.
"When we emerged after three hours to an incinerated landscape dotted with injured and dead animals I thought of you," the letter continued, accompanied by a photo of a dead animal lying amid a scorched vineyard.
Late on Thursday evening, Mr McCormack told SBS News he had "acknowledged climate change" and was "proud to be part of a government which is taking real and meaningful action to reduce global emissions".
"We have a strong record and we will continue to work together, as a government, to meet and beat our international climate targets," he said.
"Right now, our focus is on the devastating bushfires impacting much of Australia and supporting the people who have been displaced, lost their homes and livelihoods and those whose loved ones have tragically perished."
During an interview in December, the Deputy Prime Minister appeared to dismiss the link between climate change and bushfires, describing the concerns as those of "inner-city raving lunatics".
"We've had fires in Australia since time began, and what people need now is a little bit of sympathy, understanding and real assistance - they need help, they need shelter," he told ABC Radio.
More than 130 fires continue to burn across NSW with concerns they will spread even further amid high temperatures and strong winds forecast for Saturday.
People in the area of the Dunn's Road fire have been advised to leave before Friday as it will not be safe to travel through the region on the weekend.
