There is widespread coverage of bushfires burning across two Australian states, well ahead of the usual summer fire season. The New York Times reports: “Officials warned that climate change and drought threatened to bring Australia its worst fire season on record.” The paper quotes Queensland’s head of fire prediction calling it an “omen” and noting: “Fire weather has never been as severe this early in spring.” The New York Times continues: “Experts and some state officials, agreeing with that dire assessment, have been quick to identify climate change as a major cause – a controversial argument for some people here in a country that is heavily reliant on the coal industry, with a conservative government that has resisted making climate policy a priority.” The Guardiancarries an “obituary” for the historic Binna Burra Lodge, destroyed in fires in Lamington national park. A Guardian feature asks if Australia is “facing the summer from hell” given “low water storage levels and extreme temperatures forecast” while another article from the paper says the fires are “unprecedented”. Reuters notes that heavy winds have fanned bushfires with smoke disrupting flights. It quotes the deputy commissioner of the Queensland fire and emergency service saying: “This early in the season is unprecedented.” A second Reuters article says more than 100 bushfires are burning in two states. Separately, the Guardian reports that Australia “cleared 7.7m hectares of threatened species habitat since [the] introduction of [the] environment act”. Finally the Sydney Morning Herald reports that the state of New South Wales is to set interim carbon reduction targets towards an election commitment goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.