Scientists have demonstrated clear links between climate change and more intense bushfires and longer fire seasons - an established position that is endorsed by firefighting authorities, the CSIRO and the Australian Academy of Science. Bushfire behind homes along Park Rd, Woodford, in the Blue Mountains. Credit:Wolter Peeters ‘‘The research has all been done,’’ said Professor Ross Bradstock, of the Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires at the University of Wollongong. ‘‘We don’t need to keep doing it.’’ The NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, had a more measured position, saying she did not shy away from discussing climate change but that it was not her primary concern at the moment. ‘‘When you’re talking to people who have just escaped death, who faced death, who are worried about the properties, their homes being there, that’s our immediate priority,’’ Ms Berejiklian said. ‘‘When you face people who are protesting, I say to them, why don’t you help people who lost everything?’’

The NSW bushfires have ignited a political storm with Nationals pair Michael McCormack and John Barilaro saying now is not the time to be talking about climate change. Credit:Wolter Peeters, AAP 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 yesterday that Australia was getting drier and the "situation in parts are getting very, very warm" but he said the government was acting on climate change. "We’ve had fires in Australia since time began, and what people need now is a little bit of sympathy, understanding and real assistance - they need help, they need shelter," the Nationals leader said. "They don’t need the ravings of some pure, enlightened and woke capital city greenies at this time, when they’re trying to save their homes, when in fact they’re going out in many cases saving other peoples’ homes and leaving their own homes at risk."

Mr McCormack singled out Greens leader Richard Di Natale and Melbourne MP Adam Bandt for "disgraceful" attempts to score political points by using the bushfires to prosecute their agenda on climate change and shut down the coal industry. 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. "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.

The comments by the Nationals leaders have angered environment groups, who have organised a rally outside NSW Parliament House on Tuesday morning to highlight links between climate change and bushfires. One of the lead organisers at the Nature Conservation Council, Jacqui Mumford, will be at the rally after almost losing her home to fires burning near Foster over the weekend. NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay is urging the state government to suspend Parliament this week to allow MPs to stay in their electorates. Several Nationals MPs from northern NSW will not be in Sydney, as well as two Labor MPs. But a spokeswoman for the Deputy Premier said Parliament would sit as planned but MPs from fire-affected electorates could remain in their communities and provide support.

The Australian Academy of Science has cautioned that predicting the impact of climate change on rainfall was "not as robust" as forecasting temperature change. "The drier the fuel, the more likely it is to burn. Increased average temperatures caused by climate change will contribute to fuel dryness," the academy states in a summary of work by its member scientists. 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."