PM ‘seriously considers’ bushfire royal commission

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has raised the prospect of a royal commission into the bushfires during a conference call with Coalition MPs this afternoon.

MPs have told Sky News that Mr Morrison also requested that MPs do not do any interviews with international media on the bushfires crisis - in an apparent reference to a controversial interview Sydney Liberal Craig Kelly did with Good Morning Britain, where he was accused of being a climate denier.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison visiting the Defence Staging Ground at Kingscote Aiport on Kangaroo Island during the bushfire crisis. Picture: David Mariuz

Mr Morrison told MPs that a national royal commission into the bushfires would be seriously looked at but was something to consider "down the track", according to accounts of the phone hook-up.

Mr Morrison also gave a stern message on interviews with international media, said one MP, telling those on the call that it was "completely unhelpful for MPs to do international media. The only people who should be talking to international media are myself, the foreign minister and the trade minister."