'Deeply troubling and unsettling': Prime Minister urges calm over bushfires

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has acknowledged a horror start to the bushfire season and weeks of smoke haze hovering over Sydney as a "national disaster" and moved to assure people his government is taking climate change seriously.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged Australians to
remain calm after a horror start to the bushfire season.

Mr Morrison said he understood people found the severity of the fires "deeply troubling" and “unsettling".

"We all know this is a national disaster and we knew this was going to be a very tough fire season when we went into this season. We also know that there are many contributing factors that relate to these fires," Mr Morrison said at a press conference in Melbourne on Thursday morning.

"The drought is obviously - and the dryness of the bush is the biggest factor and we all know, as I acknowledged earlier this year in February, that climate change, along with many other factors, contribute to what is occurring today."

Read the story from The Age by Nick Bonyhady - “'Deeply troubling and unsettling': Prime Minister urges calm over bushfires.”

Independents and climate form perfect storm for the good ship Coalition

The Perfect Storm is the true story of a fishing boat, the Andrea Gail, that headed out for tuna off Massachusetts and was hit by a violent natural event caused by the combination of two massive weather fronts.

The perfect storm appears to be an apt metaphor
to describe the conditions facing Scott Morrison
and his government at the coming federal election.

The perfect storm is also the metaphor most often used to describe the conditions facing Scott Morrison and his government at the coming federal election.

Dr Jill Sheppard is an investigator for the Australian National University’s Australian Electoral Study (AES), a major post-election review that has been tracking voter sentiment since 1987. She is also author of the ANU poll and focuses on why people participate in politics and the opinions they hold.

Read the story from The Guardian by Gabrielle Chan - “Independents and climate form perfect storm for the good ship Coalition.”

(Gabrielle Chan was interviewed by Climate Conversations for her book “Rusted Off”.)