Bureau warned Greg Hunt about climate change before he cited Wikipedia
Firefighters battle a blaze in the Blue Mountains in September, 2013, a month of "unprecedented" high temperatures. Photo: Nick Moir
Environment Minister Greg Hunt was given a thorough briefing about the effects of climate change on Australia's weather patterns three weeks before he told a BBC radio interview he had sourced information on bushfires and global warming from Wikipedia.
Confidential Bureau of Meteorology briefings, obtained by Fairfax Media through freedom-of-information laws, show senior officials warned Mr Hunt that the extreme heat that baked Australia in 2013 was "unprecedented" before Mr Hunt downplayed any link between fires and climate change in an interview with the BBC's Newshour in October last year.
The initial briefings show officials advised Mr Hunt that recent extreme heat was consistent with "a pattern of global warming", while subsequent advice in November said climate change had increased the odds of "severe weather conducive to severe bushfires occurring".
Environment Minister Greg Hunt. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
The documents shatter claims made by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who last year dismissed any link between global warming and bushfires, and show the extent to which the government has been advised of climate change's influence on recent extreme weather in Australia.
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Mr Hunt was questioned on Newshour on October 23 last year and appeared to use Wikipedia to defend the Prime Minister's assertionthat United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres was "talking out of her hat" when she said bushfires were linked to climate change.
Mr Hunt said he had "looked up what Wikipedia says" and had learnt that "bushfires inAustraliaare frequently occurring events during the hotter months of the year That's the Australian experience".
Pressed about the impact of climate change on bushfires, Mr Hunt responded: "Well, we all have to be very careful. In talking with the senior people of the Bureau of Meteorology, for example, they always emphasise never try to link any particular event to climate change."
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Bureau warned Greg Hunt about climate change before he cited Wikipedia