In the dark: Australia ill-prepared for climate punch

The government is working on a national climate risk assessment but will it be too little too late? (James Gourley/AAP PHOTOS)

Floods, fires, heatwaves, drought, cyclones. Australia's weather extremes have been coming thick and fast.

While it's broadly accepted that climate change is ramping the frequency and potency of these hazards, communities everywhere still know little about their unique vulnerabilities to increasingly fierce emergency scenarios.