Fine words but action needed now

Prime Minister Scott Morrison took a big step forward on Monday by saying what most Australians have long been thinking about the link between climate change and the bushfires, droughts and catastrophic floods that have ravaged the country in recent years. Hopefully he will now do something about cutting Australia’s carbon emissions, too.

Previously, Morrison has refused to accept a causal link between climate change and weather events, despite the overwhelming consensus in the scientific community. As recently as last week, he visited the site of devastating bushfires in southwest Tasmania, in forests that had not caught fire in millennia. Yet he described as ‘‘pretty offensive’’ a suggestion by Greens senator Nick McKim that the fires were made more dangerous by the Coalition’s pro-coal policies. So it was welcome that he turned around and emphatically accepted the science. ‘‘I acknowledge [climate change] is a factor. Of course it is. Australians do – the vast majority of Australians,’’ he said.

Now the real issue is what he plans to do about it. Morrison promised to do more on climate change before the next election but he still suffers from a credibility gap on the issue.

In the next breath he repeated his prediction that Australia will meet its emissions reductions targets under the Paris Treaty ‘‘at a canter’’ despite strong evidence that it cannot on current settings.