Tourism Australia’s new $15 million ad has been temporarily pulled amid Australia’s bushfire crisis.

Launched to the British public on Christmas Day 2019, the ad centred around enticing UK citizens to escape to Australia.

However, the lifestyle and scenery promoted in the ad is in conflict with the bushfire crisis that’s devastating much of Australia.

Tourism minister Simon Birmingham initially defended the timing of the ad, saying the campaign was planned months in advance.

He said: “It’s unfortunate to the extent that it comes at the same time that you see international news services covering stories of fires.

“The fires will pass. Communities need to rebuild, and people who see this ad today will be making bookings to travel in six months’ time, nine months’ time, 12 months’ time.”

However, amid the current crsis, a Tourism Australia spokesperson confirmed yesterday that some of the Matesong campaign had been temporarily pulled.

They added: “We continue to monitor the situation daily and will continue to review our planned activity over the coming days, weeks and months.”

The spokesperson also noted the people the campaign was targeted towards would not actually travel to Australia for more than 12 months.

“The campaign has been a long time in the planning and is a long-term play to attract UK visitors to Australia in the coming years.

“We hope that our Matesong campaign will provide inspiration for our friends in the UK to plan a future trip, and we also hope that this demonstrates to those tourism areas impacted by the fires that we will continue to back them now and into the future.”

You can see the ad here.

The Chaser create an ‘Honest Australian Tourism Ad

Meanwhile, comedy group The Chaser have created their own spin on the ad, taking a more ‘honest’ approach to what it’s like to currently visit Australia.

On their Facebook page, the group wrote: “We saw the new Kylie tourism ad, and noticed it left out a few crucial details about Australia.”

Check it out below.