The Herald, which has indeed criticised the government’s policies, is flattered by Mr Morrison’s view of our persuasive power but he is wrong if he is suggesting that coverage such as ours has swayed the UN or the world leaders. They have based their assessment on Mr Morrison’s own actions and on the facts of Australia’s policies. They see that Mr Morrison has a record of trivialising the threat of climate change, including his schoolboy prank of bringing a lump of coal into Parliament. Mr Morrison had been told he would not be allowed to address the session he skipped because of his weak climate policies. But that was no excuse not to turn up. The PM characterised the concern over climate change expressed by young people at the UN as “needless anxiety”. Without naming 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg who addressed the UN, Mr Morrison suggested her speech was inappropriate. “Let teenagers be teenagers,” he said. But he also encouraged young people to have a "passionate independent view" - provided they were given plenty of context. While he spoke to his own daughters about fossil fuels, he did not have deep conversations with his daughters about emission targets and the Paris agreement.

The problem for Mr Morrison is that at international events, such as the UN and the Pacific Islands Forum, he wants to play up his climate credentials but back home in Australia, where it counts, he refuses to confront the climate denialists in his own party. Loading This game cannot go on forever because the world knows what Australia is actually doing. The government claims it will meet its pledge under the Paris Treaty to cut emissions to 26 per cent below 2005 levels. Yet that target is less ambitious than most comparable countries and only possible because Australia has adopted a controversial interpretation of the treaty which includes claiming credit for emissions reductions up to 12 years ago. Other countries know that, as of today, Australia’s carbon emissions are rising at the fastest rate in seven years.

Looking ahead, Australia refuses to commit to any emissions targets after 2030 or say when its emissions will start to fall. Indeed, the government is considering building a new coal-fired power station. Australia’s only significant climate policy is a fund that spends annually about $230 million, a trivial sum in an economy the size of Australia’s. Mr Morrison’s experience in New York should convince him that Australia’s weak climate policies will be an albatross around his neck internationally. The first thing he should change is his rhetoric here in Australia. If he wants to be believed overseas he should start making action on climate change part of his stump speeches. He should speak out against climate deniers in his own government and the right-wing media. The problem for Mr Morrison is not overseas but in what he is failing to do here in Australia.