Michael McCormack's tough words only confirmed his weakness

Australian politicians prove their failings when they cannot address the reality of climate change when confronting the immediate crisis of drought and bushfire.

Nationals leader Michael McCormack has unleashed
on the Greens when asked about climate change
concerns, amid catastrophic bushfires in New South
Wales and Queensland.

Michael McCormack may have felt good for a moment when he vented about "inner-city raving lunatics" but his tough words only confirmed his weakness.

Sitting atop a Coalition government that is easily split on whether climate change is real, the Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister was easily provoked into an intemperate remark to satisfy a conservative base.

But the reality should not be so hard to admit. Australian scientists say there is a connection between climate change and bushfire risk.

Read the option piece from The Sydney Morning Herald by David Crowe - “Michael McCormack's tough words only confirmed his weakness.”

‘We've turned a corner': farmers shift on climate change and want a say on energy

Out in the bush, far from the ritualised political jousting in Canberra, attitudes are changing. Regional Australia has turned the corner when it comes to acknowledging the reality of climate change, says the woman now charged with safeguarding the interests of farmers in Canberra.

 Fiona Simson on climate change: ‘Farmers have
 come quite a long way in their attitude.’

Fiona Simson, a mixed farmer and grazier from the Liverpool plains in northern New South Wales, and the president of the National Farmers’ Federation, says people on the land can’t and won’t ignore what is right before their eyes. “We have been experiencing some wild climate variability,” Simson tells Guardian Australia’s politics podcast. “It’s in people’s face”.

Read Katharine Murphy’s story from The Guardian - “‘We've turned a corner': farmers shift on climate change and want a say on energy.”