A Cobargo resident has passionately defended his town after a video went viral of Scott Morrison being heckled by angry locals.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was met by angry residents in bushfire-devastated Cobargo in south-east NSW.

“We are totally forgotten about down here”: Residents of bushfire ravaged Cobargo take aim at @ScottMorrisonMP #AustraliaFires #ausfires #NSWfires pic.twitter.com/ZD9sSiNVbT

— news.com.au (@newscomauHQ) January 2, 2020

Owner of the Cobargo Hotel, David Allen, spoke with Natalie Peters and Erin Molan just hours after he had managed to save his business from the flames at the start of the week.

Now, the Cobargo local, whose father was part of a local delegation chaperoning the Prime Minister during his visit, has insisted the reaction by angry locals is not a reflection of the town.

“He’s the Prime Minister of Australia and he deserves some respect.

“He was here to listen and unfortunately a tiny minority of people did that and it’s not representative of the community.

“I was just so embarrassed for the town because that’s not what we are.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

Cobargo Hotel owner David Allen has since confirmed his father, former Bega Valley Shire Mayor Tony Allen, was travelling with the Prime Minister.

“No matter what people think of Scott Morrison, and their politics, I just thought what happened [when he was heckled] was wrong,” he said.

“I knew nothing about this handshake business and all that. For me that’s all peripheral.

“Our immediate problem here is we need help, and that’s what we needed, to ask the Prime Minister for help. And what happened, you know that the Prime Minister left, was so unhelpful to us.

“As I said we have people who’ve lost their lives, who’ve lost their homes, who’ve lost their businesses, we need help down here.

“What happened was so unhelpful. And that’s my point.

“I don’t really care about the politics and the media grabs. That’s all peripheral, it’s a side issue. It’s so important we get some help down here because we may not have power down here for weeks.”

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