Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended a video posted on social media detailing the government's bushfire response after it was labelled "shameless" and a breach of political advertising rules.
The video, authorised by Mr Morrison and posted on Saturday, describes how the government is deploying up to 3000 defence force reservists in response to the ongoing crisis.
It includes details of the defence ships and aircraft that have been deployed along with funding allocated for firefighting planes, volunteer firefighters and those who lost homes or incomes.
The Liberal Party also posted details of the government response on its social media channels, following Mr Morrison's announcement of the stepped-up measures earlier on Saturday.
British broadcaster Piers Morgan slammed the video as a "self-promotional commercial with cheesy elevator music".
"This is one of the most tone-deaf things I've ever seen a country's leader put out during a crisis. Shameless & shameful," he posted.
The Australia Defence Association, a non-partisan public-interest watchdog, accused the government of breaching rules around political advertising.
"It's a clear breach of the non-partisanship convention. You shouldn't politicise defence force support agencies like this," the executive director of the ADA, Neil James, told SBS News.
"After they had made a formal announcement that was shown on every tv station and they'd also [sent out] departmental and ministerial press releases, what was the point of the ad?"
"Clearly they have dragged the defence force into party political controversy and there was apparently no thought of that risk occurring and that's quite frankly, disgraceful," Mr James said.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd also expressed outrage.
"On a day we have catastrophic fire conditions, in the midst of a genuine national crisis, Morrison, the marketing guy, does what? He releases a Liberal Party ad! He is no longer fit to hold the high office of prime minister," Mr Rudd tweeted.
Mr Morrison took to Twitter to defend the video late on Saturday, saying it was a legal requirement in Australia to include an authorisation on all video messages used by MPs on social media.
"The video message simply communicates the Government's policy decisions and the actions the Government is undertaking to the public," he posted.
"The same practice is rightly employed by the Leader of the Opposition and the Labor Party. This is required and standard practice in Australia."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison tours the fire devastated Wildflower farm owned by Paul and Melissa Churchman in Sarsfield, Victoria. Source: Pool AAP
The prime minister has faced criticism for not acting sooner to bolster the nation's firefighting capabilities, and for going on holiday to Hawaii during the crisis.
