I’m in two minds about climate change. But not like Hanson

July 1, 2026 — 5:00am

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I confess to being in two minds about climate change. On one hand, I’ll be dead before it gets really bad. On the other, I do care about the potentially unliveable lives we’re leaving for our grandkids.

When I decided to check on our progress in limiting climate change, I discovered the news wasn’t good. But then I realised we’re not dead yet. We haven’t missed the bus; we’re just running to catch up with it.

The first shocking thing I was reminded of in my literature search (a flash name for looking at a bunch of newspaper cuttings) is that it’s become permissible – even fashionable – to be out and proud about being a denier that the climate is worsening and this needs to be prevented.

It probably won’t surprise you that Pauline Hanson is in denial, as is Barnaby Joyce. Anything strike you about this pair? They’re not the sharpest tools in the drawer. It’s hard to imagine how anyone who’d completed high school could be stupid enough to just wave away all the scientific evidence that global warming is real.

What shocked me most was the reminder that the Coalition has dropped its commitment to achieving net zero emissions. Really? And these guys claim to be fit to govern the country?

They should remember this decision the next time they’re wondering why their primary vote has dropped to 17 per cent, its lowest ever. Who........

© The Sydney Morning Herald