The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has insisted he “believes in climate change” a day after refusing to state if the impacts of global heating were worsening.
Climate scientists, environmentalists, Labor and the Greens lined up on Thursday to condemn the opposition leader for comments he made during Wednesday night’s election leaders’ debate, which prompted renewed scepticism of the Coalition’s commitment to climate action.
Asked during the debate if the impacts of climate change – including in his home state of Queensland – were worsening, Dutton said: “I’ll let scientists pass that judgment”.
“I don’t know because I’m not a scientist and I can’t tell you whether the temperature has risen in [outback Queensland town] Thargomindah because of climate change or the water levels are up.”
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, seized on Dutton’s comments during the debate and again at a press conference on Thursday morning, posing the question: “Does he [Dutton] believe in gravity?”
“What else is there that is a scientific fact that he needs assurance of, or a science degree, to understand?” Albanese said to reporters at a Brisbane childcare centre.
Leading climate and environment groups were alarmed at Dutton’s comments, which the Australian Conservation Foundation said had echoes of the “old climate deniers’ line – ‘I’m not a climate scientist’”.
Climate scientist David Karoly, an emeritus professor at the University of Melbourne and councillor at the Climate Council, offered to brief Dutton on the science “at any time he would like to listen”.
The 2024 state of the climate report by Australia’s science agency, Csiro, and the Bureau of Meteorology highlighted that changes to Australia’s weather and climate were happening at an increased pace and the past decade had seen record-breaking extremes and natural disasters, exacerbated by human-caused climate change.
Karoly said the report specifically pointed out that increases in short-term rainfall and extreme rainfall were increasing in frequency and magnitude due to human caused climate change.
“Mr Dutton just needs to read what government organisations are reporting and listen to the scientists. Scientists have been talking about this for a long time,” he said.
Asked on Thursday about his comments the previous night, Dutton said: “I believe in climate change and that’s a reality”.
“It’s why we’ve adopted our position in relation to net zero by 2050,” he told a press conference in Maitland, in the New South Wales Hunter Valley region.
Dutton was not pressed specifically on whether he accepted that climate change was making severe weather events worse.
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The former Coalition government’s perceived inaction on climate change was considered a major factor in its 2022 federal election defeat, helping to inspire the teal independents who captured six heartland Liberal seats.
The defeat did not prompt a re-think in approach, with Dutton’s opposition voting against Labor’s legislated emissions targets and then refusing to set a 2030 or 2035 goal of its own ahead of the 2025 election.
The Coalition is committed to net zero by 2050 and claims nuclear power provides the only viable path to achieve that goal.
However, the government’s Climate Change Authority has found Dutton’s nuclear plans – which would require extending the life of ageing coal-fired power stations – would make it “virtually impossible” to meet the target.
Fractures remain within the Coalition over climate action, with some MPs either sceptical or outright opposed to net zero targets.
The Guardian this week unearthed a video in which Coalition MP Colin Boyce described blackouts as a “big political opportunity” to turn people against renewables.
In a separate video, Boyce confirmed he was an active member of the Saltbush Club, a group formed to push climate science denial.
