Climate Council says too many leaders are silent on global heating’s role in ‘megafloods’

A car submerged by flood waters in Lismore during the major floods of the past week. The Climate Council says ‘too many leaders’ have been silent or absent on the climate crisis driving natural disasters. Photograph: Jason O’brien/AAP

The Climate Council has issued a pre-election call for all Australian political parties to acknowledge the climate crisis is driving worsening disasters, including the “megafloods” in Queensland and New South Wales.

The Australian Industry Group also declared on Monday that Australia’s former competitive advantage in carbon-intensive energy was “gone” and the country needed “coherent and efficient action” to build a new advantage in clean energy.