Two editors of major Australian newspapers have presented differing views on climate change in regard to the Abbott government in the lead up to the end-of-year conference in Paris.
The Sydney Morning Herald's Peter Hannam declared on Saturday that 2015 could be the "year of extinction for the climate-change denier", as he referred to an affirmation by the New South Wales Baird government in December. During question time for a media briefing on how global warming is expected to impact upon NSW, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory by 2070, the panel stated: "This is the NSW government, we believe in climate change!"
Mr Hannam also identified Victoria's new Labor premier, Daniel Andrew, as someone who is interested in taking climate change more seriously. Lisa Neville, the state minister for climate change, is likely to approach the issue with greater vigor that her Liberal predecessor.
However, the Prime Minister's appointment of Bob Baldwin as the new parliamentary secretary for the environment is perceived as a matter of concern. Even though Mr Baldwin says that he is "neither a climate sceptic nor a denier", and is "strongly committed", he made dismissive comments in the past. Mr Hannam concluded that only time will tell how both the government's response and the calls from the electorate will pan out.
The Age's Adam Morton went into greater detail on Sunday, and reminded readers of how hot the weather is in Australia at present. Of particular significance to Mr Morton is the influence of Pope Francis, who is reportedly committed to a plan in which he will stress climate change to his worldwide followers. Mr Morton identified around 1.2 billion Catholics globally, with "more than two-thirds of them in the developing world." The reports of the Pope's future commitment emerges after the Vatican hosted a five-day summit on environmental sustainability in May. The Pope also said in 2014: "If we destroy creation, creation will destroy us. Never forget this".
For Mr Morton, the next big test for Australia is the Paris summit, after the "failure" of Copenhagen and the softening of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's stance at Lima. According to Mr Morton:
"The government's emissions reduction fund won't be enough to hit deeper targets after 2020 unless it is redesigned, or the government was to spend extravagantly."