... have ranged from the baneful nonsense of the Far Right’s outright climate change denial; to a hesitant, ill-informed scepticism about the limits and accuracy of the science that links Australia’s weather patterns of recurrent droughts, floods and bushfires to wider global climate change; to claims that our carbon emissions are insignificant when compared to those of China, Russia or the US; to apocalyptic predictions of an imminent ‘sixth extinction’ caused by wilful ignorance of the extent of humankind’s destruction ...
... resources over the past year, even refusing in September to meet retired fire chiefs who were urging sharply increased government spending on firefighting trucks and aircraft, he now has abruptly pledged an extra $2bln federal money to rebuild after the bushfires. Foreign partners — US, Canada, New Zealand — have sent experienced firefighting crews to help. Small Pacific neighbours Fiji and Vanuatu have offered disaster relief aid.
Real policy changes on climate change may at last be forced on Mr Morrison and his minerals and energy industry backers by the sheer weight of public outrage. Hopefully this might become a turning point in Australian climate change policy: but the forces of reaction remain ...