Loading "It is disgraceful, it is disgusting and I'll call it out every time," he said. Glen Innes council mayor Carol Sparks, the first Greens member to hold that position, said last week "there's no doubt" climate change was contributing to drought and the lack of rain and said Prime Minister Scott Morrison should act on this. Asked about that comment, Mr McCormack said on Monday morning that Australia was getting drier and the "situation in parts are getting very, very warm" but the government was acting on climate change. "What we are doing is taking real and meaningful action to reduce global emissions without shutting down all our industries," he said.

"Adam Bandt is very quick to really point the finger. What really galls me, and I think galls a whole host of other Australians, is the fact that he actually blames Scott Morrison and the government for the loss of those peoples' lives. "If that doesn't get called out he gets away with it. And I think sometimes people like him get way too much publicity. Just like the protesters in Melbourne - they get way too much publicity. They crave that, they yearn for that." Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has dismissed the link between climate change and bushfires. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Asked if he was dismissing concerns about climate change, the Deputy Prime Minister said he was not doing that and the government was addressing climate change. Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie also attacked the Greens but did so while telling the Senate that she believed climate change was contributing to drier and hotter conditions.

"We know that climate change is causing heatwaves, fire weather and drought, and for [those] to become more frequent and intense," Senator McKenzie said. Loading "We know that, and that's why we've got a raft of measures across government to actually deal with this." Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud said the government was acting on climate change but it was "not the time" for a conversation by people who wanted to politicise climate change. "I don't want to weaponise it in the middle of someone's misery," he said.

Mr Bandt responded by redoubling his call for the closure of the coal industry on the grounds that a global coal shut-down would help the climate and ease the risk of bushfires. "This government has had every opportunity to minimise the risk of these catastrophic fires and instead it has chosen to pour fuel on the fire," the Greens MP said. "Michael McCormack and Scott Morrison bear some responsibility for what is happening at the moment because they have done everything in their power to make these kind of catastrphic bushfires more likely." However, in response to questions, Mr Bandt said he was not blaming the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister for a "particular fire" or a "particular incident" and was arguing the government's role should be to minimise the risk of people losing their lives. "I think the world needs to shift away from coal and Australia, as the sixth largest polluter when you take into account how much we export, has to take a leading role," he said.

"If you continue digging up coal and burning it, then this kind of catastrophe is going to become more likely, and the question is: is that what we want?" Loading NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said there was no doubt drought had contributed to the conditions when asked about the link between climate change and the bushfires on Monday morning, "But I don't think it's appropriate to get into a political argument as to what the causes are at this stage," she said. Mr Morrison has fended off questions about climate change while touring areas devastated by fire and drought.

When a journalist asked Mr Morrison in Taree on Sunday to respond to local residents who wanted to know what he was doing about climate change, he said he was focused on the immediate needs of the local people. "I'm focused on the needs of the people in this room today, as is the Premier, the needs of resourcing of our firefighters and to ensure that they have everything they need, to keep those firefighters safe and to protect as many properties as we can," Mr Morrison said. "You've got firefighters out there saving someone else's house while their own house is burning down. And when we're in that sort of a situation, that's where our attention must be." Asked about the connection between climate change and extreme weather events in February, Mr Morrison said “I acknowledge it’s a factor, of course it is.” The Australian Academy of Science has cautioned that predicting the impact of climate change on rainfall was "not as robust" as forecasting temperature change.