Frank Jotzo, Director of the Centre for Climate and Energy Policy at Australian National University’s Crawford School of Public Policy, told CNN: “The strategy up until Christmas was to downplay importance of the emergency, to make it seem like another episode of fires … nothing to see here, move on.
“That really jarred with the very obvious never before seen dimensions of this disaster and it would really grate with anyone who had a direct experience of these fires.”
The Prime Minister has recently expressed regret over his handling of the crisis, conceding there were “things I could have handled on the ground much better”.
Across Europe, climate action protesters have rallied across Europe to show their support for victims of the current crisis.