Are heatwaves ‘worsening’ and have ‘hot days’ doubled in Australia in the last 50 years?

The release of the Finkel report has refocused national attention on climate change, and how we know it’s happening.

What exactly does research say on heatwaves and hot days?

On a Q&A episode following the report’s release, Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said we’ve seen:

… worsening heatwaves, hot days doubling in Australia in the last 50 years.

Her comment provides the perfect opportunity to revisit exactly what the research says on heatwaves and hot days as Australia’s climate warms.

Read the piece on The Conversation by a Climate Extremes Research Fellow from the University of Melbourne, Andrew King - “Are heatwaves ‘worsening’ and have ‘hot days’ doubled in Australia in the last 50 years?”

Finkel review: a bluffer's guide for those who haven't read it

So much does Tony Abbott dislike the Finkel review of the electricity market that he hasn't read it. On Monday, three full days after it was released, he branded its key recommendation a "magic pudding" and a "tax on coal" while conceding that he had been guided by "reports of the report" rather than the report itself.

Illustration John Shakespeare 

I understand where he is coming from. Who wants to wade through 200 pages of a report they won't like?

But I'd feel better about it if I thought that at least some of the 20 or so other backbenchers who spoke out against the Finkel Report at the Coalition party room meeting on Tuesday had taken the time to read it.

I fear that most haven't, and I reckon you probably won't as well.

Read Peter Martin’s comment in today’s Melbourne Age - “Finkel review: a bluffer's guide for those who haven't read it."