Each summer, Australia, like various other parts of the world, is hit by extreme temperatures and bushfires. And, like countries all over the globe, each year the temperatures set a new record, while the fires become more ferocious and uncontrollable. The fires that Australia has been battling this year, with little success, fit the pattern. Tragic as it is, it has become a routine affair. The Australian government, and notably Prime Minister Scott Morrison, has been caught entirely unprepared, and not only due to the fact that the fires have been particularly severe this year. Their lack of preparedness is perhaps also due to the fact that Morrison and his Liberal-National Coalition have been repudiating climate change and have played the role of an obstructionist, not just in setting their domestic policies for the mitigation of climate change and cutting carbon emissions, but also by blocking any real progress in the global discussions on implementing the Paris Agreement. For more than a decade, Australia has been living in climate denial. At COP21, held in Paris in 2015, Australia very nearly managed to derail the agreement through its obstructionist policies. Since then, the government has been vocal in its criticism of the Paris Agreement and has tried to minimize any link between the rise in frequency and severity of natural catastrophes and climate change — just like US President Donald Trump. At last month’s COP25 meeting in Madrid, Australia repeated its stance and insisted on using an accounting loophole on carbon credits, a stance that has been called out as “cheating.” Australia was also one of a handful of countries that blocked the reaching of any agreement on all nations enhancing their targets for cutting carbon emissions. Its stance earned it scathing comments from various small and developing countries, including some of its closest neighbors — the Pacific Ocean island nations. Rather befittingly, the 2020 Climate Change Performance Index, prepared by a group of think tanks, ranked Australia close to the bottom of the list of 61 countries, based on its national climate action plan on emissions, renewable energy, policy and energy mix. The report also criticized the Australian government for being a regressive force internationally, notably for blocking the agreement on carbon trading during COP25, as well as for dismissing mountains of scientific data on the seriousness of the situation. But it is not just Morrison and his government that have refused to take climate change seriously and implement the measures necessary to protect not only its forests, rivers and lakes, but also the famous Great Barrier Reef — a coral formation that is key to not only protecting marine life in the entire Indian Ocean, but also acts as a shield to protect Australia from the vagaries of the sea. A lot of Australian citizens are also guilty of disregarding the hazards of climate change and the obligation of the entire world to move rapidly and protect the environment. With the summer of 2018 having been the hottest ever recorded in Australia at the time, accompanied by severe drought and vast forest fires, it was expected that the national elections of May 2019 would be all about climate change, and that the voters would eject the conservative government and bring back the Labor Party, which had fought the elections with the promise of drastic measures to cut emissions. However, Morrison and his coalition were able to convince voters that the steps already taken by the government were adequate and that imposing tighter emissions regulations would hurt Australian industry and lead to job losses. In a surprise result, the voters ended up buying the conservative propaganda and re-elected the coalition for yet another term, despite the fact that many people, especially in New South Wales and Victoria, were badly affected by the impacts of climate change, such as droughts and wildfires. The response from the people has been muted, except those directly in the line of fire. Ranvir S. Nayar Today, even though the government has been caught entirely unprepared by the catastrophic ongoing wildfires, Morrison has again ruled out changing the government’s environmental policy, and he continues to insist he is doing enough to cut emissions. One would have thought that a decade of worsening wildfires, drought and the drying up of water bodies would act as a wakeup call for the nation and its leaders that maintaining the status quo on emissions and other harmful actions that are killing the Australian environment will only lead to a bigger disaster and could be severely damaging for the people, economy and the environment. The ongoing wildfires, now in their fourth month, have so far killed more than 1 billion animals, destroyed thousands of acres of forests, and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. Despite this, the government remains in denial. In November last year, Morrison’s deputy prime minister said all those linking the fires with climate change were “inner-city raving lunatics.” And Morrison continues to refuse to review his policies. Beyond the government, the response from the people has been muted, except those directly in the line of fire, literally. There are hardly any calls, except from the Greens and Labor, for a radical shift in policy. But the Australian people cannot afford to play ostrich vis-a-vis climate change anymore. Nature’s response to their inaction will only get more severe with each passing year. Ranvir S. Nayar is the editor of Media India Group, a global platform based in Europe and India that encompasses publishing, communication and consultation services. Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News" point-of-view