Former foreign minister Julie Bishop says Australia needs to show global leadership on climate change by putting forward a "coherent energy policy" in response to the nation's bushfire crisis.

Amid growing international criticism of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's climate change policies as fires burn across six states, Ms Bishop said on Monday other countries looked to Australia for "direction, guidance and leadership".

"Australia is a highly developed country," Ms Bishop said in an interview on Nine's Today show. "We should be showing leadership on the issue of climate change."

"We don't have a national energy policy in this country and a national approach to climate change so we are part of a global effort.