Canavan quoted the CSIRO’s official published position on climate change and bushfires: ‘However, no studies explicitly attributing the Australian increase in fire weather to climate change have been performed at this time’.
Mayfield silently stared down at his notes, searching in vain for a shovel.
“I can have a crack at that if you want, Peter,” a CSIRO colleague’s voice is heard over the microphone.
But Mayfield soldiered on: “I was just having a quick check on it, yes. At this stage there are historical studies around that but at this stage we haven’t done any specific work.” To be clear, this was the Australian federal government agency responsible for scientific research caught red-handed trying to pin the bushfires on climate change despite its own official position being that there are no studies to prove this.