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Celeste Barber helps raise $12m for firefighters

Outpouring of emotion from famous faces helps millions being raised in bushfire relief.

Comedian Celeste Barber, best known for The Letdown and Have You Been Paying Attention?, has helped raise millions after posting images of her mother-in-law’s house, under a red glow, at Eden on Facebook.

Barber’s online message sparked donations from more than 150,000 Facebook fans from as far away as Canada and the Czech Republic.

The ABC’s joint Disaster Relief and Recovery Appeal with the Australian Red Cross, launched on New Year’s Eve, has raised more than $10 million for bushfire-affected communities.

Singer P!nk donated $500,000 to rescue services and gave donation links to 6 state fire authorities to her 32 million Twitter followers.

“I am totally devastated watching what is happening in Australia right now with the horrific bushfires. I am pledging a donation of $500,000 directly to the local fire services that are battling so hard on the frontlines. My heart goes out to our friends and family in Oz,” she wrote.

Rebecca Judd has donated $50,000 while Ricki-Lee Coulter raised over $8,000 via a donation button on her Facebook page. Nick Kyrgios pledged to donate $200 to those affected by bushfires for every ace he hits this summer.

Others who have taken to social media, either to encourage donations or express concern over climate change and wildlife, include Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Chris Brown, Ryan Reynolds, Kelly Rowland, Jameela Jamil and Bette Midler. Naomi Watts, Rebel Wilson, Delta Goodrem, Russell Crowe, Lisa Wilkinson, Dr. Chris Brown, Rebecca Gibney, Bindi Irwin, Shaynna Blaze, Tim Robards, Matty J, have also posted emotional responses to Instagram.

But a satirical column by Jeremy Clarkson has been published in The Sun UK in which he described Australia as a place where God housed all his nature experiments that had gone wrong, and wasn’t fit for people to live.

“For millions of years, this big, sandy cupboard under the stairs went unnoticed. But then along came Captain Cook and now the world knows all about Oz and its stupid, dangerous creatures. Plainly, God is embarrassed. Because he’s decided to set fire to it,” he wrote.

Clarkson, who became a climate change believer while filming in Cambodia in November, added, “Thousands of homes have been obliterated. And people are dying. This has happened before in recent years and there’s no doubt it will happen again. Which means people must accept that Australia isn’t meant for human habitation. So if you’re reading this down there, please come home. You’ll like it. It never stops raining. And we are better at sport.”

Red Cross Donations

Updated: Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban to donate $500,000. Ash Barty to donate $360,000 prize if she wins Brisbane International. Chris Lynn, D’Arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell to donate $250 for every six they strike in the Big Bash League.

Source: ABC, Daily Mail

11 Responses

  1. $29,647,248 ..now I remember who she is…funny lady…..
    I do not donate to Red Cross…as I like to know my donation is directed to the cause I am donating to…

  2. Passed by 9 this morning around 9.30AM and it was 17 million…the counter was racing so fast, you could not keep up…heading to 18 million…in the blink of an eye…Just incredible….but at least it will go where people donating, mean it to go…?

  3. all this money being raised is amazing but it is really pissing me off that our Prime Minister hasn’t got a clue on what to do. why is he still in power?

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