Climate change: Another record coming that we don't want to break

When the Australian Research Council awarded its funding plans in mid-2017, one recipient of the highly competitive seven-year grants was the Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes.

The death of half of the Great Barrier Reef's corals during two summers
 – according to preliminary estimates – probably failed to interrupt barbecue
 banter for most Australians.

While building on the work of the previous Climate System Science centre, the new hub represents more than a name change.

The centre – grouping leading scientists from the Australian National University, Monash, Melbourne, and Tasmania universities – is the first in the world "with an unambiguous focus on the science behind climate extremes", according to its director, Professor Andy Pitman.

The Turnbull government and particularly Simon Birmingham, as the responsible minister, deserve credit for increasing the centre's capacity by 10 per cent over its predecessor – presumably against the views of a rump within the Coalition that denies climate change is a serious threat.

Read the Editorial in today’s Melbourne Age - “Climate change: Another record coming that we don't want to break.”