Is climate change serious enough yet Mr Rudd?

The Adelaide morgue was already full from the heatwave before the weekend firestorm claimed upward of 200 lives in Victoria. Melbourne rail lines buckled in the heat as the bushfires raged out of control. Meanwhile, more than 60 per cent of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone in the worst floods for more than 30 years.

Australia has experienced bushfires and cyclones since the dawn of time. But in recorded history, we have never seen anything like the heatwave that saw temperatures across southern Australia soar above 40C for days on end. On the Saturday of the firestorm that claimed so many lives, the mercury hit 48C.