Devastating Fires Fail to Shake Australia Climate Change Inertia
- Government’s record on tackling emissions under the spotlight
- Businesses, farmers and firefighters call for more action
A firefighter defends a property from a bushfire at Hillville, near Taree, on Nov. 12.
Photographer: Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images
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Australia’s record on tackling climate change is getting tougher to defend for Prime Minister Scott Morrison as bushfires ravage the country’s east coast.
His government is refusing to discuss whether global warming has contributed to a longer dry season that’s fueling ferocious blazes even before summer has begun. One government lawmaker even questioned whether environmentalists had increased the threat of the fires that have so far claimed three lives and destroyed around 2.5 million acres of farmland and bush.