(AU) Australia's Fires Are Terrifying. Will They Get World Leaders To Act On Climate Change?

TIME - Justin Worland



Families huddle on a once picturesque beach as their homes burn behind them. Baby koalas, their fur singed, cling to their mothers as they face a fiery demise. And military helicopters whomp overhead, searching the charred landscape for stragglers looking for a last-minute escape.
These bracing scenes illustrate a terrifying reality on the ground in Australia, where more than two dozen people and millions of animals have died in wildfires that have destroyed more than 25 million acres since December and that are not expected to be contained anytime soon.
The blazes, so large that they’ve created their own weather systems, have sparked widespread panic, prompted a military deployment and caused billions of dollars in damage. “We’re in the middle of a war situation,” says David Bowman, director of the Fire Centre Research Hub at the University of Tasmania.
The infernos have also captured the world’s attention. While climate-linked disasters aren’t new–from the uptick in deadly heat waves to increasingly powerful hurricanes, floods and blizzards–images of such destruction often fail to resonate and are quickly forgotten in the next day’s news cycle.
But what’s happening in Australia feels different. Haunting pictures of cute koalas, kangaroos and wallabies that have died en masse tear at our heartstrings. And as cynical as it may sound, the fact that the devastation is occurring in a wealthy, English-speaking country reminds even the most privileged observer that money alone cannot buy immunity from the wrath of nature.
“You have the perfect storm of a story,” says Anthony Leiserowitz, who directs the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. “[It] is happening on literally the other side of the planet, yet it seems to be resonating in this country.”
Most significantly, the Australian fires are burning at a time when the world is becoming increasingly attuned to the catastrophic dangers of unchecked climate change. Activists, a series of dire scientific reports and other recent extreme, climate-linked events–including wildfires more than 7,000 miles away in California–have perhaps succeeded in sharpening the mind. Whether global leaders are able to translate this newfound awareness into meaningful political action is the next test.
There’s no question about the link between the Australian wildfires and climate change. The country’s famed bush–the continent’s vast, often dry expanse that is sparsely inhabited but filled with vegetation–has always been prone to wildfires. But a warming climate has heightened the risk: decades of worsening droughts have killed off plants, grasses and trees, creating tinder for fires, and warmer average temperatures have created furnace-like conditions in which fire can easily spread.
Last year was Australia’s hottest and driest on record, with temperatures in some parts of the country topping 120°F in December, according to government data. A 2019 report from the Australian government concluded that climate change had already “resulted in more dangerous weather conditions for bushfires in recent decades.”
But Australia’s current leadership remains largely in denial about the problem. Along with the U.S., Russia and Brazil, Australia–where coal mining is a significant industry and a powerful lobby–is one of just a handful of countries with national politicians who have steadfastly refused to consider bold action to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
But while U.S. President Donald Trump outright denies the science of climate change, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has taken a different tack in recent months. He isn’t contesting that climate change is real or that it has worsened the bushfires. Instead, he argues that his country can’t do anything about it because Australia’s greenhouse-gas emissions make up only a small share of the global total.
“To suggest that with just 1.3% of global emissions, that Australia doing something differently, more or less, would have changed the fire outcome this season,” he told an Australian radio station, “I don’t think that stands up to any credible scientific evidence at all.”
It’s not clear if, or for how long, Morrison’s position will remain politically tenable among his fellow citizens. Last year, 61% of Australians said their government should take urgent action “even if this involves significant costs,” according to a survey from the nonpartisan Lowy Institute. That number is up 25 percentage points since 2012. “There’s been a backlash against Scott Morrison,” says Lowy’s Daniel Flitton. “Issues to do with the environment have been key to the downfall of successive Prime Ministers in Australia.”
Morrison’s dismissive rhetoric on climate change makes him an outlier among democratic leaders, who are for the most part rushing to proclaim all they’re doing to save the planet.
But his position points to a dilemma: he is correct, of course, that Australia cannot single-handedly prevent climate change in the country’s backyard. Instead, nations–including those that aren’t emitting that much on their own–must act collectively to embrace policies that reduce emissions.
Whether global leaders act boldly will determine if the heartbreaking images from Australia that have now gripped the world are a tragic aberration or a look at what’s to come.

Links

• Australia's Wildfires and Climate Change Are Making One Another Worse in a Vicious, Devastating Circle
• This Marsupial Was Only Discovered 5 Years Ago. Climate Change and Australia's Bushfires Are Driving It to Extinction
• Australia's Fires Are Terrifying. Will They Get World Leaders to Act on Climate Change?
• Wildfires Are Raging Outside Every Major City in Australia
• Australia Is Burning: Scenes From a Deadly Season of Bushfires
• Battered PM announces bushfires royal commission and puts climate change on the agenda
• 'Living Across Two Continents is Environmentally Unethical'
• Elton John Donates $1 Million to Australian Bushfire Relief, Says Devastation Reaches 'Biblical Scale'

(AU) Malcolm Turnbull: Scott Morrison Can't Afford To Waste The Bushfire Crisis When Australia Urgently Needs Its Own Green New Deal

The Guardian - Malcolm Turnbull

The lies of the climate deniers have to be rejected. This is a time for truth telling, not obfuscation and gaslighting, writes former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull

The Dunn Road fire in Mount Adrah. Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says Australia must substantially enhance its firefighting resources. Photograph: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

How much of our country has to burn, how many lives have to be lost, homes destroyed before we resolve as a nation to act on climate change?
Have we now reached the point where at last our response to global warming will be driven by engineering and economics rather than ideology and idiocy?
Our priority this decade should be our own green new deal in which we generate, as soon as possible, all of our electricity from zero emission sources. If we do, Australia will become a leader in the fight against global warming. And we can do it.
The cheapest new generation is from wind and solar. And every year they are getting cheaper. That is a fact. But they depend on the wind blowing or the sun shining. That’s why it is called variable renewable energy.
So we have to plan to store the energy when it is abundant so that supply is maintained when it is not.

Have we now reached the point where at last our response to global warming will be driven by engineering and economics rather than ideology and idiocy?

This is why I prioritised pumped hydro when I was prime minister and started the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project and the Hydro Tasmania “battery of the nation”. Apart from pumped hydro, there are other storage opportunities including batteries and using renewable energy to make “green” hydrogen, itself a fuel, which brings with it huge export opportunities as well.
But the bottom line is that today in Australia we have the means to decarbonise our entire electricity sector. At the same time we electrify the economy such as by moving to electric vehicles and trucks and using electricity, rather than gas, for heating.
We need to plan this carefully – we have to keep energy affordable and reliable as we make the transition. My government’s policy for a national energy guarantee (Neg) integrated emissions reduction and reliability, and would have enabled us to continue to make the switch to renewables without compromising the reliability of the electricity network.
Today we need common purpose, leadership and planning. We can demonstrate that abundant zero emission energy will create thousands of new jobs that will vastly exceed those lost as coal burning comes to an end.
Take the Hunter Valley. It has enormous transmission capacity which need not be wasted as its coal-fired generators close. The degraded landscape of old mines could be covered with solar panels. Pumped hydro can be created, including around Glenbawn Dam. And that is only one form of storage. The Hunter could become a green energy hub.
The children in Muswellbrook and Singleton will not have to breathe in coal dust and sulphur dioxide from the mines and power stations, and their parents will have jobs in industries that thrive with cheap, green power.
Planning is essential. A practical reality is that it takes much less time to construct new solar or windfarms than it does large-scale pumped hydro for storage. And so we have to plan the storage now.
As we replace big centralised coal-burning generators with many more distributed renewable generators, we will need more and differently designed transmission. A more distributed generation system creates resilience in the face of natural disaster with fewer single points of failure.

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison while visiting damaged property on Stokes Bay on Kangaroo Island. Photograph: David Mariuz/AAP

And those concerned about fuel security would recognise that the most reliable strategy is to use less imported fuels. Far from threatening the Australian weekend, electric vehicles make Australia more energy independent and thus secure.
But above all we have to face this fact; coal is on the way out. It is, as we are seeing today, a matter of life and death. Whether we like it or not, demand for our export coal is going to decline and expire.
The world must, and I believe will, stop burning coal if we are to avoid the worst consequences of global warming. And the sooner the better. The good news is that thanks to technology we can have abundant energy which is both green and cheap.
The cost of solar per watt is declining every year – by 13% last year alone and over 90% over the last eight years. And thanks in large part to research at the University of New South Wales we will soon see a standard solar panel increase its energy efficiency by another 50%. Batteries are seeing similar increases in efficiency and thus affordability. Aemo’s latest estimates show by 2030 new solar backed with six hours of pumped hydro as being more than $40 a megawatt hour cheaper than new black coal even without a carbon price.
And most importantly of all solar and wind are zero marginal cost generators. So they complement storage, like pumped hydro, perfectly.

The election is won, and the fires have surely demonstrated that an integrated climate and energy policy is vital.

There are simply no more excuses. We cannot allow political prejudice and vested interests to hold us up any longer.
If ever there was a crisis not to waste, it is this one. Morrison has the chance now to reinstate the Neg with higher targets. Both he and Josh Frydenberg were among its strongest supporters when I was PM. They abandoned it in the lead-up to an election, to pacify the right wing of the Coalition that sabotaged it in the first place.
The election is won, and the fires have surely demonstrated that an integrated climate and energy policy is vital if we are to be serious about cutting emissions.
At the same time as we move rapidly to deliver clean and affordable energy we need to make sure that we can respond to the consequences of global warming that cannot be avoided. That too will require careful consideration and planning. The time for spin and bluster is over.
We will need to substantially enhance our firefighting resources, which will have to be done in close consultation with the state firefighting agencies not by dictation from Canberra. Respect, consultation and collaboration are the keys here.
There are many other implications from a hotter, drier climate. Water will be scarcer, droughts more frequent and longer.
But there will be rain again, and good seasons too, so we must not become complacent when the immediate crisis abates. The global warming trend is clear, and it is not our friend.
We can adapt to a hotter drier climate. But the lies of the deniers have to be rejected. This is a time for truth telling, not obfuscation and gaslighting. Climate change is real. As real as the fires that only a month into summer have consumed nearly 10 million hectares. And our response must be real too – a resilient, competitive, net zero emission economy – as we work to make our nation, and our planet, safe for our children and grandchildren.

Links

• Disinformation and lies are spreading faster than Australia's bushfires
• ‘Simply no more excuses’: Malcolm Turnbull and other angry Australians slam PM Scott Morrison on climate change policy
• In the name of Australia's future, the Morrison Government must go
• 'National security issue': Turnbull tells Q&A Morrison must step up response to bushfire crisis
• Scott Morrison vows to go 'even further' on emissions in response to fires
• Scott Morrison to pursue royal commission into the bushfire emergency
• Scott Morrison flags bushfires royal commission and says Coalition could bolster emissions reduction
• Malcolm Turnbull: Scott Morrison can't afford to waste the bushfire crisis when Australia urgently needs its own green new deal

(AU) PM Morrison Flags Climate Policy Change

Canberra Times - Paul Osborne, AAP

Scott Morrison says it's the government's position that climate change increases bushfire risk.

Scott Morrison says he accepts climate change is driving longer, hotter and drier summer seasons and the government's emissions targets need to "evolve".
The prime minister has faced criticism for lacking ambition on cutting Australia's emissions and a number of his coalition partyroom colleagues have downplayed the link between climate change and the devastating bushfires.
Australia has pledged to cut emissions by 26 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030, under the Paris Agreement.
"It is my intention to meet and beat that target," Mr Morrison told ABC TV on Sunday.
"In the years ahead we are going to continue to evolve our policy in this area to reduce emissions even further and we are going to do it without a carbon tax, without putting up electricity prices and without shutting down traditional industries."
Asked whether he was open to moving the existing target, he said: "What I'm saying is we want to reduce emissions and do the best job we possibly can and get better and better and better at it."
Mr Morrison acknowledged some within coalition ranks felt climate change had nothing to do with the bushfires.
But it was the government's "uncontested" advice and position that climate change was impacting on longer, hotter, drier summer seasons.
"That is the position of the government - let there be no dispute about that," he said.
Mr Morrison said one of the issues which should be explored by a royal commission into the bushfires, which he will put to cabinet and the state premiers in coming weeks, would be the impact of climate change.
Australia Institute executive director Ben Oquist said it was a "good move" to include climate in the terms of reference for a royal commission.
"But Australia will have to do more to tackle coal and gas to have a credible climate policy on the international stage," Mr Oquist said.
"The coal and gas industry should begin to help pay the mounting costs of climate impacts, recovery and adaptation through the introduction of a climate disaster levy."
Mr Morrison has rejected the idea of a levy, arguing it would hurt the broader economy.

Links

• Scott Morrison vows to go 'even further' on emissions in response to fires
• Scott Morrison to pursue royal commission into the bushfire emergency
• Scott Morrison flags bushfires royal commission and says Coalition could bolster emissions reduction 
• Malcolm Turnbull: Scott Morrison can't afford to waste the bushfire crisis when Australia urgently needs its own green new deal
• Prime Minister Scott Morrison responds to criticism about his trip to Hawaii during bushfires
• Thousands Join ‘Sack ScoMo’ protest around the world
• Protests Erupt as Australia’s Bushfire Crisis Continues

(AU) An 'Absolutely Seminal Moment': Climate Change Opinion Shifting In Face Of Fires

Sydney Morning Herald - Deborah Snow

Social researcher Rebecca Huntley began to detect a shift in the way Australians felt about their summers while working with focus groups about 18 months ago.
“There was a sense that summer was not necessarily a relaxing time for Australians anymore,” she says. “They were worried about crazy temperatures, high electricity prices, about whether Nan was going to put on the aircon ... A lot of people were recognising that Australian summers were not just the old summers of icy poles and running around outside and novels any more, and the community were kind of getting it, even though no one had a premonition it would get this bad.”


Residents are now able to return to Wingello after the fire threat passed.

With this season’s ravening fires yet to be defeated, the immediate focus is on battling the blazes and providing aid and comfort to those who’ve lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods.
But waiting in the wings, it seems, is an opportunity for a more consensus-driven national conversation about climate change once the worst of the crisis has passed.
Veteran pollster John Utting believes the fires have been an “absolutely seminal moment. The conversation in the past has been kind of abstract, with [the case for stronger action] very much in in the hands of the virtue signallers; people felt they were being lectured. But now, everyone is breathing the proof. There is an incredible amount of evidence that the issue is beginning to bite … people are worried about a huge loss of lifestyle, and the impact on how they want to live and what they like about this country.”
Huntley agrees, though she’s not yet as certain as Utting that this season’s fires are a complete game-changer. “People can respond to traumatic events in very different ways, and some can push back and say, ‘I don't want you to play politics with this disaster’,” she says.

Fires hit Lithgow in December. Credit: Dean Sewell

But she senses a change in public opinion. This summer’s infernos have meant images of what climate change looks like are no longer so remote for many Australians.
“Polar bears on icebergs, Pacific islands sinking, ice floes melting … it hasn’t felt like that hit at the heart of our identity or way of life. Now, tragically, critically, we have really compelling images in our minds of what climate change might mean for us.”
Huntley is midway through writing a book on the emotional response to climate change and says her research points to “a very high level of concern about climate. All the surveys show that, and whether you believe in surveys or not, they can’t all be wrong all the time”.
“This is an opportunity for leaders to show that actually we are all in this together, that this affects us all ... It’s an opportunity to drop some of the really destructive partisan politics on climate and step forward.”

Bushfire smoke chokes Sydney in December. Credit: James Brickwood

Groups that Coalition governments generally listen to – the Business Council of Australia, the insurance sector, parts of the finance industry, investors, even some religious communities – have been “talking about the importance and opportunity of transitioning to a low-carbon economy for some time”, she says.
The federal government could bring those interests together and ask what should be put on the table in terms of climate action, she suggests. “You would not need one environmental group there and you could still have a meaningful conversation about what needs to be done.”
The CEO of the Investor Group on Climate Change, Emma Herd, also sees an opportunity to “put aside the [toxic partisan debate] of the last decade and to face forward”.
“It is simply not good enough for Australia to say we are only 1.3 per cent of global emissions and there is nothing [more] we need to do. Because we will feel the effects if nothing happens. We really need to be increasing our international engagement to ensure that the world is acting because we are on the front line of the worst effects.”

Properties destroyed in Conjola Park in the New Year's Eve fires. Credit: James Brickwood

Former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop stepped into the ring this week, telling Nine's Today show that “we should be showing leadership on the issue of climate change ... If a country like Australia fails to show leadership, you can hardly blame other nations for not likewise showing leadership in this area.”
The remarks were squarely aimed at the federal government’s widely panned performance at the recent Madrid climate summit, where Australia was seen as cheating on targets for emission reductions by insisting on using “carry-over” carbon credits from the much earlier Kyoto treaty.
Experts overwhelmingly believe Canberra’s targets are too low in the face of the mounting evidence that climate change effects are accelerating. Yet, thus far, the Prime Minister has baulked at revising those targets upwards, telling ABC radio again on Friday morning that “our policies don’t pursue reckless job-destroying and economy-destroying targets”.


A selection of the most powerful images and footage captured of the bushfires that started in 2019 by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age photographers.

State Liberal leaders are proving far more willing to embark on stronger climate policies than their federal colleagues.
Last month, NSW Energy and Environment Minister Matt Kean caused a stir by telling a Sydney summit that climate change was a factor in the severity of the fires and “exactly what the scientists have warned us would happen” – a comment that only looked brave because so many of his federal colleagues had run a mile from acknowledging the link.
He told the Herald this week: “For a long time climate change has been something theoretical, but what we are seeing now is tangible impacts on people, property and the environment. We are actually seeing it played out. My view is that the public wants meaningful action in a way that won’t destroy the economy.”
The state government has a stated goal of net zero emissions by 2050, though little has been on offer so far to show how that will be achieved. Concrete measures to make good on the promise are likely to be unveiled soon. By 2030, the goal is a 35 per cent emissions cut on 2005 levels, though that’s yet to become official.

NSW Minister for Energy and Environment, Matt Kean. Credit: AAP

“Business is already doing it, not because they are greenies but because they are capitalists,” Kean says. “Markets are shifting, community sentiment is shifting, and it’s time government caught up.”
He says he’s excited by what he saw in international markets at the end of last year, particularly in the Netherlands where they were “overbuilding” wind generation capacity to produce “green” hydrogen. “They will export [it] to the rest of Europe and will make a killing out of it,” he says.
“I think we can win the climate wars by lowering our carbon emissions in a way that creates jobs, sees investment coming into our country and underwrites our prosperity for future generations.”
Kean was unimpressed by federal Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly’s starring turn on British TV this week, when the hapless MP was lashed by high-profile host Piers Morgan after arguing that the savage fires were not linked to climate change but to high fuel loads and the drought.
“Craig Kelly is as qualified to talk about atmospheric physics as he is to perform brain surgery,” Kean says.
Liberal governments in South Australia and Tasmania are also pinning high economic hopes on renewable energy. South Australia produces just over 50 per cent renewable energy now and aims to up that to between 75 and 85 per cent in five years’ time.
That leap in capacity will be aided by a planned new interconnector to link SA’s riverlands and the Riverina in NSW, smoothing out peaks and troughs between the two different weather systems.
Steve Marshall’s government is also investing in closed-loop hydro, large-scale battery storage and subsidies for home batteries to make the most of a high uptake of rooftop solar. The state’s goal is 100 per cent renewable energy by the 2030s, if not 2030 itself.
“We have a good working relationship with Canberra, but the attitude here is we are running our own race,” a senior source says. “Tasmania is in a similar place … we are both talking about how we can become net exporters of renewables.”
Even the cautious Business Council of Australia is chafing at the bit. It made no secret of its dismay when the then Turnbull government ditched the proposed National Energy Guarantee, which would have enshrined lowering emissions as one of the key aims of a national energy plan.
The group was wary of harnessing the fires to pressure for policy change this week. However, a spokesman said: “The climate science tells us that extreme weather events and natural disasters will become more frequent and intense. So we need a credible climate change and energy policy that puts us on a transition path to net zero emissions by 2050.”
John Utting believes the fires have changed the electoral calculus. “Someone running for office now has to be on the right side of the issue at the next election,” he says. “Governments are reluctant to lead opinion, they only respond when community sentiment overwhelmingly backs a change. But look what happened with same-sex marriage - I think it will happen on climate change.”

Links

• The Biggest Lesson About Climate Change From 2019
• 'How Is This Possible?': Greta Thunberg Weighs In On Australia's Bushfire Crisis
• (AU) Prime Minister, You Need A Credible Climate Policy. It's Too Dangerous To Keep Pretending You Have One
• (AU) Australia 'Absolutely' Must Take More Action On Climate Change: Michael McCormack
• (AU) Wake Up, Australia: Deceit And Post-Truth Politics Will Not Save You From The Flames
• (AU) Australia’s Democracy Has Faceplanted And Labor Is Staring Down Some Disturbing Truths
• (AU) Grattan On Friday: Climate Winds Blowing On Morrison From Liberal Party’s Left
• (AU) What Albanese Could Have Said: We Lied – Australian Coalmines Have No Future 

(AU) The Coalition's Toxic Denial Of Climate Change Is Destroying Us

Independent Australia - Lyn Bender

It is our Government's denial of climate change that has brought so much destruction upon our country

Cartoon by Mark David / @MDavidCartoons

Lyn Bender Lyn Bender is a practicing psychologist and a freelance writer. She was the Manager of Lifeline Melbourne and spent six weeks as a psychologist contracted to Woomera Detention Centre. After which, she advocated for refugees. Lyn was arrested at the Save the Franklin River Blockade.

AS AUSTRALIA MOURNS enormous losses and experiences the dread and terror of this ferocious summer, the culture of denial attempts to assert itself in this new landscape. The professional denialists continue to promote their toxic climate lies.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is their klutz villain who seeks to deceive, as the climate reveals its fury.
Perhaps this is the time that we may at last defeat toxic denial.
The great 19th-century novelist Charles Dickens clearly saw the injustices and failings of his time, yet managed to portray stories that offered elements of hope and restitution.

‘It was the best of times and the worst of times, when evil acts were perpetrated but the essential goodness of mankind prevailed.’
~ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Dickens, like many literary greats, understood and portrayed the inner workings of the human mind.

“I find it unconscionable to continue working for this company, knowing I am contributing to the spread of climate change denial and lies.” https://t.co/hSiKnOTQlr

— Jenny Noyes (@jennynoise) January 10, 2020

In Great Expectations, Miss Havisham denied that her lover had defrauded and rejected her and sought to hold back time at the point of hearing of his desertion. Stopping the clocks, she continued to preside over her crumbling wedding feast, long after the rats had devoured the wedding cake. In the end, she was consumed by fire.
“Have-a-sham” could be a metaphor for our times. May we present our sham leader.
Scott Morrison does not seem to accept the science of the times. If he understands the science, then his response to our climate crisis is homicidal.
Morrison wants to continue to consummate his love affair with coal, even though it means the destruction of our nation and the planet.
In May 2019, enough voters were in denial of the urgency of climate change to facilitate the election of a climate-denying government. Morrison showed us what he was made of when he fondled a lump of coal in the House of Representatives. It had been lacquered into cleanliness.
“Don't be afraid, don't be scared,”  he mocked. “This is coal,” Morrison bellowed. He laughed as his sycophantic frontbenchers handled the gleaming black lump with glee.
Optimism is not the same as pretending in the face of evidence to the contrary that all will be well. That kind of optimism exists in the realm of charlatans or fools.
The fire season began early in spring. As the conflagrations spread and worsened, Scott Morrison maintained his have-a-sham position. He enacted a show of optimism for the future. No worries, mate — he went on a secretive holiday to Hawaii. He returned after intense media scrutiny and criticism but went to the beach. Although this seemed rather staged.
Morrison did not look the part of a carefree family beachgoer. He trudged on Bronte Beach sands like a businessman on a lunch break, who has removed his shirt and trousers for an hour. Or, in his case, for a photo shoot. He declared bizarrely that under-resourced exhausted volunteer firefighters were as happy as Larry, doing their thing. They were where they wanted to be, crowed the fireproof Prime Minister.

In the name of Australia's future, the Morrison Government must go https://t.co/TTmgw2DtPr @IndependentAus

— IndependentAustralia (@independentaus) January 9, 2020

He was enjoying the cricket and so should the volunteer firefighters and the people. Morrison had a Happy New Year’s Eve party and photoshoot with the cricket team. “Life, as usual, continues” was the message. As people died, houses burned, ecosystems and millions of native animals are incinerated, the Prime Minister was having his summer of beach and cricket. It was like a crass tourism promotion.
This is the bizarre game that the denialist team has been playing for many years. As the planet hotted up and the science grew more insistent of our need to act, the denial team was in full throat. As the birds were silenced, the usual suspects became more shrill in their squawking.
There are too many to name but here are a few of those seated at the have-a-sham table:

Alan Jones Ray Hadley Steven Price Peter Gleeson Peta Credlin Chris Kenny

Andrew Bolt Terry McCrann Rupert Murdoch Ian Plimer, as reported on Media Watch Institute of Public Affairs, a pseudo think tank that promotes denial in the interests of its mining founders

The Government is staffed by saboteurs of climate action. Minister for Energy and Emissions Reductions Angus Taylor has voiced opposition to the UN climate processes. Australia, along with Brazil and Saudi Arabia, pushed for a very disappointing outcome at the recent Climate Summit at Madrid. Angus's performance was slammed by climate scientist Will Steffen.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is awaiting divine intervention for the drought, rather than government intervention. As the former Drought Envoy, Joyce failed to produce a single report.

“Denial is now built into Coalition DNA, despite the ludicrous suggestion by the PM that his government has “always” accepted the link between climate change and bushfires.” https://t.co/KI2JAYp4It

— 💧🐨🐨🐨Michael Myer (@myer051) January 7, 2020

You may know them by their words and deeds, the diners at the table of rot and corruption.
Here are some of the deeds of the climate action destructors:

1. Tony Abbott wins the election on a promise to axe the tax legislated by the ALP with Green support. It had been reducing emissions;
2. CSIRO faced budget cuts in 2016 with the loss of climate scientist jobs. Scott Morrison was treasurer from 21 September 2016 until 26 August 2018;
3. $3 million spent on redundancies by CSIRO and some science positions restored;
4. Turnbull Government deposes Abbott in 2016, returns some funding that reduced staff cuts in CSIRO;
5. the hard Right, supported by the Murdoch press, deposes Turnbull in 2018 — Turnbull had proposed the National Energy Guarantee, which was meant to reduce cost, increase reliability and lower emissions and be bipartisan;
6. Scott Morrison becomes PM and fudges the carbon figures, saying Australia will meet its Paris commitments at “a canter”, despite emissions climbing;
7. Morrison presides over a climate policy vacuum;
8. in May 2019, Morrison wins the unwinnable “climate election” with no policies on climate;
9. Angus Taylor argues at COP 25 in Madrid to water down Australia’s low target by using Kyoto credits, thereby not achieving an actual reduction of emissions;
10. as massive fires worsened to catastrophic levels, Morrison tries to suppress discussion of climate change and was mocked internationally. The world has made the link between Australian coal, bushfires and climate change; and
11. Morrison had actually intended to go to India to promote Australian coal this January. He has only recently pulled out (for now) under pressure. 

The trip to India was as tin-eared as the recent Tourism (carefree) Australia promotional video with Kylie Minogue. That has also been paused due to the fires.
Where does hope lie in this tale?
The people are waking up to the seriousness of the continuing catastrophe. We are choking on the smoke. Everyone knows someone impacted by these fires. It crosses all classes, ages and ethnicities. So much has been lost. So many animals have died.
This has to be our wake up call. Now, more than ever, we need to talk about climate change solutions.
The people on the ground are supporting one another and the animals. Maybe through all this devastating fear and sorrow, we will regain a new perspective on what really matters. Maybe we will fight for the survival of our natural world and of each other.

MUST READ: World's media derision for Scott Morrison over bushfire crisis https://t.co/pFozcPIagS @IndependentAus

— Dave Donovan (@davrosz) January 9, 2020

Full video of Liberal MP Craig Kelly on Good Morning Britain. Shows how climate change denial normalised in Australia by the Murdoch press and elements of the LNP can appear ridiculous outside Australia, even to conservatives. https://t.co/mjGlhCgKMV

— Lisa Pryor (@pryorlisa) January 6, 2020

Links

• (AU) The World Has Made The Link Between Australian Coal, Fires And Climate
• (AU) Foreign Media Rips Into Australia Over Causes Behind Bushfire Crisis
• (NYT) As Fires Rage, Australia Sees Its Leader as Missing in Action
• (AU) Morrison's Government On The Bushfires: From Attacking Climate 'Lunatics' To Calling In The Troops
• (AU) Dirty Power: An Australian Political Investigation
• (AU) Richard Flanagan: Aloha, Little Scotty From Marketing, Is It Resurrection You’re Looking For?
• (AU) Why Australia’s Prime Minister Just Defended Coal, Even Though The Country Is ‘On Fire’ And Voters Fear Climate Change

(AU) Australia Fire Crisis Fuels Protests Calling For Bolder Action On Climate Change

Washington Post - Kate Shuttleworth

Students march behind a banner during a “Fund the Firies and Demand Climate Justice” protest in Sydney on Jan. 10. The fires in Australia have come as the country is polarized by the debate over global warming. The government has downplayed the link between the fires and climate change and Prime Minister Scott Morrison is not bowing to demands from environmentalists for more concerted action. (Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg)

MELBOURNE, Australia — The bush fire crisis gripping Australia is piling political pressure on its government to take bolder action on climate change, as the scorching of vast tracts of forest and farmland amplifies demands for a hastier transition away from fossil fuels.
At rallies nationwide Friday, thousands called for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to resign over what they say is his administration’s passivity on an issue that has hit home to millions of Australians as a clear and present danger. The conservative leader has defended his disaster response after facing criticism from victims and firefighters for its perceived inadequacy.
In Melbourne, close to 10,000 people took to the streets, spurning calls from police and the state’s center-left leader, Daniel Andrews, not to risk diverting emergency resources.
“Look at this through the lens of emergency services and the communities ravaged by fires — is this the best way to demonstrate your support?” said Tim Hansen, acting assistant commissioner of Victoria police. The force later said no officers would be pulled back from the fires to manage the protest.
The demonstrations unfolded as blazes burned out of control in several states. Victoria, much of it already declared a disaster area, faced extreme conditions again Friday, while firefighters in New South Wales warned that existing blazes whipped up by strong gusts could merge into one giant inferno.
Protesters in nine cities directed rage at Morrison, chanting “ScoMo has got to go” — using the prime minister’s nickname.
Erin Kimsey, 20, held a sign that read, “We can’t breathe.” She said her father was a volunteer firefighter and had been sent to the state’s east to help. “It’s shocking what’s happening, and there’s not really any action on climate change,” she said.
Maddie Chung, 21, said her family in rural Victoria was at risk from fires and might have to evacuate. “This is a very real situation, and we are calling for action,” she said.
While summer wildfires are a regular and often deadly occurrence in Australia — 173 people were killed when blazes torched Victoria in 2009 — this season’s fires have been far more extensive, fueled by a three-year drought and high temperatures.

Structures destroyed by fires on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, on Friday. (Lisa Maree Williams/AFP/Getty Images)

At least 27 people have been killed, more than 2,000 homes destroyed, and wildlife devastated across a swath of the continent since October. Thousands have been forced to evacuate, some sheltering on beaches from encroaching flames. The fires have turned the skies red and blanketed cities in smoke.
“We are running out of time to act on climate,” said Anneke Demanuele, a convener of Uni Students for Climate Justice who joined the Melbourne protest, as a cooler change brought rain to the city.
A speaker at the rally, Jerome Small, said there has been a groundswell around the issue as a result of activists such as Greta Thunberg. But he slammed politicians, calling them a “massive political and economic roadblock.”
“What we’re seeing is the direct result of climate change and a series of decisions made by the most powerful people in Australia,” he told the crowd.
An organizer of a similar rally in Sydney, Gavin Stanbrook, said the events of recent weeks revealed a nation polarized over how to tackle the challenge.
“We are divided between coal interests and politicians on the one side and then firefighters and volunteers on the other and the rest of us who are either impacted or our friends and family are on the front line, or in cities surrounded by smoke,” Stanbrook said. “We need to come together and say that we will not accept it anymore.”

Demonstrators climb a tree and carry placards during a “Fund the Firies and Demand Climate Justice” protest in Sydney on Jan. 10. (Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg)

Morrison has said he is considering an inquiry into the disaster, with officials weighing its likely scope. Last week he called up army reservists to help contain the crisis and assist with evacuations, while also announcing funding to help communities recover.
“This is initial, and this is urgent — there will be more,” Morrison told reporters Friday.
Polls show that Australians consider climate change a menace to the nation. Some 64 percent see climate change as a critical threat, an increase of 6 percentage points from 2018 and 18 points since 2014, according to a Lowy Institute survey last year. And 61 percent of respondents wanted mitigation steps even if they involve significant costs.
Yet the climate debate has riven Australia’s politics in recent years and contributed to the downfall of at least three of Morrison’s predecessors.
In elections in May, voters in mining-dependent regions punished the opposition center-left Labor Party over fears that its climate policies would endanger jobs, while support for the ruling conservatives slipped in some urban areas where voters want a bolder approach. Former conservative prime minister Tony Abbott, who once dismissed climate science as “absolute crap,” lost the Sydney seat he had held since 1994 to an independent candidate who made climate action central to her campaign.
While Australia directly accounts for a little over 1 percent of the world’s greenhouse emissions, its status as one of the world’s largest coal exporters means it contributes to considerably more.

Veterinary surgeons Oliver Funnell and Gayle Kothari treat an injured koala Friday at Australia’s Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, where dozens of koalas have been rescued from fires in recent days. (David Mariuz/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

The country’s economic growth of the past three decades was driven in large part by exporting coal, iron ore and other resources to the fast-expanding economies of Asia. Yet this summer’s apocalyptic scenes have prompted many to call for a rethink.
Tim Flannery, a climate scientist, said the link between many politicians and polluting industries was too strong.
“It’s completely irresponsible that Australia continues to rely on coal for the majority of its electricity. The coal industry has a lot to answer for,” he said.
Australia signed the Paris climate agreement, pledging to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. But based on current trends, the country is not expected to meet that target, according to Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific analysis of climate policies, despite growth in renewable energy.
In November, a group of more than 20 retired fire chiefs said they had been trying to get a meeting with Morrison since April to brief him on the expected catastrophic conditions.
“We predicted exactly what’s happening now, and measures could have been taken months ago,” said former fire chief Greg Mullins.

Links

• As fires devastate Australia, a coal-loving leader faces an early test
• Australia’s fires intensify as prime minister calls up army reservists to help contain the crisis
• ‘Houses were exploding’: In Australia’s fire horror, heartbreak and relief
• Australia’s fires intensify as prime minister calls up army reservists to help contain the crisis
• Australia’s prime minister visited families devastated by the wildfires. It did not go well.
• Former fire chiefs 'tried to warn Scott Morrison' to bring in more water-bombers ahead of horror bushfire season
• 2019 Lowy Institute Poll – Australian Attitudes To Climate Change

(AU) How Rupert Murdoch Is Influencing Australia’s Bushfire Debate

New York Times - Damien Cave

Critics see a concerted effort to shift blame, protect conservative leaders and divert attention from climate change.

Burning bushland in Tomerong, in the Australian state of New South Wales, on Saturday. Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times 

WOMBEYAN CAVES, Australia — Deep in the burning forests south of Sydney this week, volunteer firefighters were clearing a track through the woods, hoping to hold back a nearby blaze, when one of them shouted over the crunching of bulldozers.
“Don’t take photos of any trees coming down,” he said. “The greenies will get a hold of it, and it’ll all be over.”
The idea that “greenies” or environmentalists would oppose measures to prevent fires from ravaging homes and lives is simply false. But the comment reflects a narrative that’s been promoted for months by conservative Australian media outlets, especially the influential newspapers and television stations owned by Rupert Murdoch.
And it’s far from the only Murdoch-fueled claim making the rounds. His standard-bearing national newspaper, The Australian, has also repeatedly argued that this year’s fires are no worse than those of the past — not true, scientists say, noting that 12 million acres have burned so far, with 2019 alone scorching more of New South Wales than the previous 15 years combined.
And on Wednesday, Mr. Murdoch’s News Corp, the largest media company in Australia, was found to be part of another wave of misinformation. An independent study found online bots and trolls exaggerating the role of arson in the fires, at the same time that an article in The Australian making similar assertions became the most popular offering on the newspaper’s website.
It’s all part of what critics see as a relentless effort led by the powerful media outlet to do what it has also done in the United States and Britain — shift blame to the left, protect conservative leaders and divert attention from climate change.
“It’s really reckless and extremely harmful,” said Joëlle Gergis, an award-winning climate scientist at the Australian National University. “It’s insidious because it grows. Once you plant those seeds of doubt, it stops an important conversation from taking place.”

Firefighters waiting at a police checkpoint in Cambewarra, New South Wales, on Saturday. Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

News Corp denied playing such a role. “Our coverage has recognized Australia is having a conversation about climate change and how to respond to it,” the company said in an email. “The role of arsonists and policies that may have contributed to the spread of fire are, however, legitimate stories to report in the public interest.”
Yet, for many critics, the Murdoch approach suddenly looks dangerous. They are increasingly connecting News Corp to the spread of misinformation and the government’s lackluster response to the fires. They argue that the company and the coalition led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison are responsible — together, as a team — for the failure to protect a country that scientists say is more vulnerable to climate change than any other developed nation.
Editors and columnists for News Corp were among the loudest defenders of Mr. Morrison after he faced blowback for vacationing in Hawaii as the worst of the fire season kicked off in December.
In late December, the Oz, as the News Corp-owned paper is known here, heavily promoted an interview with the government’s energy minister, Angus Taylor, warning that “top-down” pressure from the United Nations to address climate change would fail — followed by an opinion piece from Mr. Taylor on New Year’s Eve.
Other News Corp outlets followed a similar playbook. Melbourne’s Herald Sun, for example, pushed news of the bushfires to Page 4 on New Year’s Eve, even as they threatened to devastate towns nearby and push thick smoke into the city.
Days later, residents in a town nearly flattened by the fires heckled and snubbed Mr. Morrison during a visit to assess the damage. A new hire for Mr. Murdoch’s Sky News channel, Chris Smith, branded them “ferals” — slang for unkempt country hobos.

A man in Lake Conjola, New South Wales, sprayed water on New Year’s Eve as fire consumed the house next door. Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

As is often the case at Murdoch outlets around the world, there have been exceptions to the company line — an article about the Australian golfer Greg Norman’s declaration that “there is climate change taking place”; an interview with an international expert who explained why this year’s fires are unique.
But a search for “climate change” in the main Murdoch outlets mostly yields stories condemning protesters who demand more aggressive action from the government; editorials arguing against “radical climate change policy”; and opinion columns emphasizing the need for more backburning to control fires — if only the left-wing greenies would allow it to happen.
The Australian Greens party has made clear that it supports such hazard-reduction burns, issuing a statement online saying so.
Climate scientists do acknowledge that there is room for improvement when it comes to burning the branches and dead trees on the ground that can fuel fires. But they also say that no amount of preventive burning will offset the impact of rising temperatures that accelerate evaporation, dry out land and make already-arid Australia a tinderbox.
Even fire officials report that most of the off-season burns they want to do are hindered not by land-use laws but by weather — including the lengthier fire season and more extreme precipitation in winter that scientists attribute to climate change.
Still, the Murdoch outlets continue to resist. “On a dry continent prone to deadly bushfires for centuries, fuel reduction through controlled burning is vital,” said an editorial published Thursday in The Australian. It went on to add: “Changes to climate change policy, however, would have no immediate impact on bushfires” — a stance that fits hand in glove with government officials’ frequent dismissals of the “bogey man of climate change.”

A DC-10 dropping water on a fire front in Tapitallee, New South Wales, on Saturday. Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

It’s that echoing between officialdom and Murdoch media that has many people so concerned.
“Leaders should be held to account and they should be held to account by the media,” said Penny D. Sackett, a physicist, astronomer and former chief scientist for Australia.
Timothy Graham, a lecturer at Queensland University of Technology who conducted the study of Twitter accounts exaggerating the role of arson in Australia’s fires, said media companies also needed to be cognizant of the disinformation ecosystem and stop contributing to the problem. That includes mainstream outlets, like ABC News, sharing inaccurate maps that exaggerate the reach of the fires.
But in the case of the arson issue, he said, scores of bots and trolls — many of which previously posted support for President Trump — have joined conservative media like the Murdoch outlets in promoting the idea that Australia’s fires are not a “climate emergency” but an “arson emergency.”
“Maybe 3 to 5 percent of fires could be attributed to arson, that’s what scientists tell us — nevertheless, media outlets, especially those that tend to be partisan, jump on that,” Dr. Graham said.
Of course, it is often hard to know just how much influence any media company has. Gerard Henderson, a columnist for The Australian, said he didn’t think there was much need to address climate change because it was already a focal point across the rest of the media.
“It’s hard to distract from climate change because it’s spoken about constantly,” he said.
But there are signs that the Murdoch message is making headway — at least in terms of what people make a priority. Many firefighters working the smoky hills south of Sydney hesitated to state their views on climate change this week (some said senior leaders had told them to avoid the issue). But they were quick to argue for more backburning.
Similarly, in Bairnsdale, Tina Moon, whose farm was devastated by the fires, said she was mostly furious about the government’s failure to clear the land around her property.
“I don’t think it’s climate change,” she said.

A destroyed house in Batemans Bay, New South Wales, on Friday. Credit...Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

Links

• News Corp Employee Lashes Climate 'Misinformation' In Bushfire Coverage With Blistering Email 
• 'Dangerous, misinformation': News Corp employee's fire coverage email
• Amid raging bushfire, Rupert Murdoch's Australian media empire turns a blind eye to climate crisis
• Rupert Murdoch is leading Australia to climate ruin
• Australia’s media outlets clash over bushfire coverage
• Bots and trolls spread false arson claims in Australian fires ‘disinformation campaign’
• Police contradict claims spread online exaggerating arson's role in Australian bushfires