Surrounded by the rugged national parks on the Sapphire Coast of New South Wales, the small seaside town of Tathra has not forgotten the inferno that burnt 65 homes to the ground last March. Many residents believe the out-of-control bushfire was the result of climate change and, ahead of a general election on Saturday, concerned voters like these are dragging Australian politics left-wards as they demand action.

“You could see the fire coming and you could see these explosions of flame. It was very noisy. It was a bit like a steam train coming at you.” said Tathra resident Nick Graham-Hicks, who runs a company in the large-scale wind and solar sector.

“Climate change to me is very real. I very strongly believe that there will be more catastrophes,” he added. “Our existing government, the Liberal-National party, are not taking it very seriously and I don’t think they see it as a threat. Labor seems to be much more proactive and their policies are much, much stronger.”

While individual bushfire emergencies cannot be directly attributed to warming temperatures, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) declared in its 2018 annual climate statement that climate change is “influencing the frequency and severity” of such events.