Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has told Israeli public radio that many politicians appear to be in the grip of a “climate cult” and are pursuing policies which will lead to “Third World-style blackouts” in the West.

“The last thing we should be doing is driving our industries offshore, putting extra pressure on household budgets, and risking Third World-style blackouts all in the name of climate change — I mean, we’ve got to be sensible, and balanced, and proportionate about all these things,” the Australian told Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation foreign editor Eran Mor-Cicurel in an interview reported by the left-liberal Guardian.

The right-wing former premier predicted, however, that “While we still seem to be in the grip of a climate cult, the climate cult is going to produce policy outcomes that will cause people to wake up to themselves” — i.e. have results so damaging that the general public will come to reject it.

One example of this in recent times might by the French yellow vests, whose rowdy and long-running protests against French premier Emmanuel Macron originally hinged on a proposed tax hike on fuel — which has now been abandoned.

“I think the Western world has continued to suffer from serious self-doubt over the last decade and it’s exacerbated by the rise of what are effectively new religions like the climate cult, and there is an ongoing Islamist challenge… it’s been obvious since September 2001,” Abbott said, expanding into other topics.

In terms of global politics, he observed that “Israel is richer and stronger” since Benjamin Netanyahu became Prime Minister, contrasting his “strong” leadership with the “revolving door” of new premiers in his native Australia in recent years.

He also gave credit to President Donald Trump — although “very unorthodox” — for strengthening the U.S. military, overseeing a booming economy, and recognising Communist-led China as a “strategic competitor” and treating it accordingly.

He also appeared to welcome the apparent determination of the British government under Boris Johnson to “exercise its sovereignty” — presumably in terms of Brexit, which Mr Abbott supports — and criticised the European Union for losing control of its borders in 2015.

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery