Denial is back in vogue. As Australia leads climate talks, it’s beyond time we took the issue seriously

It is unlikely that many voters are flocking to Pauline Hanson for her scientific insights – but that is where they are lining up, regardless Want to get this in your inbox when it publishes? Sign up for the Clear Air Australia newsletter here Politics is disconnecting from long-held assumptions at historic speed and no one knows where the great unhinging will take us. On the climate crisis, denial is back in vogue – depending on what the algorithm feeds you. One Nation’s surge in the polls suggests, for now at least, it is vying to be the most popular political party in the country. It does not accept the overwhelming evidence that the planet is warming and that extreme weather is getting worse. Instead, it argues the climate change department should be abolished because – in the strawiest of strawman arguments – it hasn’t changed the climate. It is unlikely that many voters are flocking to Pauline Hanson for her scientific insights – the rejection of major party politics is about much more than that – but that is where they are lining up, regardless. This is happening as temperature records continue to be broken, and as long sought-after climate solutions are incr