Scott Morrison has claimed climate change is “as important now” amid an extended bushfire crisis and a record-breaking heatwave as it was at the election and denied that the government is split over whether to improve Australia’s policy response.

In a series of interviews on Monday Morrison cited family commitments as the reason for his decision to holiday in Hawaii during the crisis, comparing himself to a plumber forced to choose between a Friday afternoon job or seeing his family.

Morrison returned to work on Sunday, cutting short the holiday by a day after the deaths of two volunteer firefighters on Thursday, but insisted he would not “panic” by increasing Australia’s ambition to fight global heating.

Asked about his judgment in taking the holiday, Morrison said the fires had been going since September – citing his earlier visits to bushfire areas – and “still have a time to run yet”.

“We all make decisions … we all seek to balance our work-life responsibilities and we all try and get that right,” he said. “We can all make better decisions on occasions, and I was pretty upfront about that with the Australian people yesterday.

“Whether it’s on a Friday afternoon and you decide to take that extra plumbing contract and you said you were going to pick up the kids, or something at my level, these are things you juggle as parents.”

Ahead of a visit to Mudgee on Monday, Morrison told Channel Seven’s Sunrise the issues around climate change were “as important now as they were” at the time of the May election.

Morrison said Australia was on track to meet its Paris target of 26% emissions reduction by 2030, about half of which will be achieved using carryover credits from meeting earlier targets and not from practical emissions reduction.

Morrison said emissions “on average under our government are 50m tonnes lower than under the previous government” – which Guardian Australia revealed on Monday is a claim based on accounting changes which have raised estimates of emissions under Labor.

“I don’t think panicking is the way to manage anything, and the urge for panic that has come from some, often politically motivated to pursue a particular agenda, is not something I’m ever intimidated by or ever distracted by.”

Speaking later on 2GB, Morrison denied there was a difference of opinion in the government, after acting prime minister Michael McCormack said on Saturday that he “absolutely” agreed that “further action” to combat climate change was needed.

“We’re saying the same thing … Our existing policies have increased efforts, that’s the point,” Morrison said.

At a press conference in Sydney, Anthony Albanese accused Morrison of “not listening to the science when it comes to climate change”, nor to former fire chiefs who have called for more action.

Albanese said Australians were “scared of what is going on around them” and suggested Morrison was showing “stubbornness” by refusing to change course on climate change. He said it was “extraordinary” for Morrison to suggest those who wanted a better policy were engaged in “political intimidation”.

Albanese called on the prime minister to immediately meet former fire chiefs, compensate firefighting volunteers and bring forward a meeting with states and territories, scheduled for March, to discuss emergency services, climate and disaster mitigation.

In Mudgee, Morrison told reporters that fire commissioners and state premiers were able to raise operational issues with him at any time, and “are very comfortable with the arrangements that we have”.

Asked about possible compensation for volunteer firefighters, Morrison left the door open to “resources that enable the commissioners to be able to turn out the volunteer force”.

“There are no recommendations coming to us from fire chiefs about those issues at this time.”

Earlier the former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce told Sunrise that Australia could not “single-handedly” influence emissions from China and India.

He suggested that China’s imprisonment of 1m Uighurs demonstrated that environmentalists were “naively overreaching” by suggesting Australia could influence global superpowers.

Earlier on Sunrise, Morrison said he had been “very focused on things back here” while in Hawaii and was “heartbroken” at the deaths of the firefighters, Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer.

Morrison said he was glad he had come home to personally convey condolences to their partners Melissa and Jess, describing Sunday as “a hard day”.

Morrison denied the holiday was a secret because he had texted Labor leader Anthony Albanese before the trip and “everybody knew I was [away]”.

Although several journalists reported that the prime minister’s office had denied he was in Hawaii, Morrison deflected a question about the lack of transparency by claiming it was an “issue the media’s got very excited about and my political opponents are seeking to exploit”.

The federal and New South Wales governments have committed a total of $63m in emergency relief funding and the federal government has delivered an extra $11m for aerial firefighting.

On Monday the captain of of the rural fire brigade in the NSW village of Balmoral, which has been devastated by the bushfires, said the community felt let down by all levels of government.

Brendon O’Connor told Radio National that “well over 90%” of the bushland in the area had been destroyed. At least 18 homes have been lost in the village.

“The community itself is rallying behind us,” he said. “Other than one of our local members we haven’t heard from anyone – we’ve not had the local council, we’ve had no members of government come to our village.”

“They’ve all gone well away from where any of, as they’re calling it, ground zero is, none of them have been here on the ground.”