London: Malcolm Turnbull has accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of "misleading" Australians over climate change and the summer bushfire disaster, in a dramatic worsening of simmering tensions between both men.

"I don't know why Scott Morrison has acted the way he has, to be frank with you. I worked with him very closely, I've known him for 20 years and I can't explain his conduct," the former prime minister told the BBC.

"I can't explain why he didn't meet the former fire commissioners who wanted to see him in March last year to talk about the gravity of the threat. Everybody knew we were in a very dry time and as a consequence the fire season was likely to be very bad.

"So rather than doing what a leader should do and preparing people for that, he downplayed it and then of course chose to go away on holiday in Hawaii? At the peak of the crisis? I just can't explain any of that. It's just not consistent with the way in which a prime minister would or should act."