"these measures must begin with the next government." i do so enjoy when ozzies tell us what the next government 'must do'. mind you, these instructions to an attentive government go into a very large file, labelled: "latest instance of cat-belling committee reporting on feasibility thereof."

i wouldn't laugh, if the prescriptions began: "wouldn't it be luvverly if our masters ...?" i wouldn't laugh because the cap-in-hand style would accurately reflect the reality of the relationship between pollies and voters.

ozzies are subjects, serfs with a high standard of living, but a standard very possibly due for a dramatic fall. they show no sign of responding effectively to imminent resource and environmental disaster. this what you would expect of sheep.

Great story, pity about the facts though.

Katrina was entirley within the normal range of cyclonic activity. There has been no increase in US cyclonic activity due to climate change. It all remains well within the normal range of events. And this season, prematurely claimed to be an extreme event (add greenhouse vomit as needed) has subsequently turned out to be 50% below the long term mean.

See "Fizzling hurricane season stokes warming debate" under "Climate News Reporting Round Up from Marc Morano" at; http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002540.html

And as for the fires, you either conduct cold/wet season fuel reduction burns or you fry the whole lot in mid-summer. Funny how some people simply cannot, or will not grasp this simple truth.

The inconvenient truth for the climate cretins is, the fires are the product of negligent green forest management and Hurricanes happen. Get used to it and spare us this blatantly political spin.

"In the last two years the greatest nation on earth, with the most resources to use on disaster prevention, amelioration and clean-up, has experienced national disasters that demonstrate the seriousness of climate change."
Bit hard to prevent hurricanes mate. The link to climate change is a very large stretch.

"No one can say whether these events were directly caused by global warming..."
You're trying too.

"Watching jetliners dump retardant and helicopters flitting about futilely as the fires raged through Californian suburbs was a sobering reminder that our technological powers are still limited."
And yet our puny efforts are meant to change climate of the earth by up to 4.5 degrees...a quandary

"We have already experienced what can happen when the relatively small Cyclone Tracey wiped out Darwin in 1974. "
Nothing to do with the sub-standard building codes of the time.

"But as the science becomes clearer, as the natural disasters occur more often"
Neither is happening at present...seems to be the opposite.

"We have wasted much time; the greenhouse gases are already in the air ..."
Oooh I can taste them...nasty gases!

"Breakdowns in water and food supplies, in disease control and provision of shelter, will kill people in unimaginable numbers."
Well there's only 6 billion of us, well within the imaginable realm. Get a grip, hysteria is taking over now.

"Katrina and California were warnings to the whole world: if it could happen there, it could happen anywhere. "
Aye thats how natural disasters work, the sneaky lil buggers.

"We will face such things in Australia as the climate becomes less benign"
Since when has Australia's climate been benign..

Quite amusing really. No mention of a nasty tsunami that had a much worse impact than either of the US "disasters".

Katrina was only a category 3 - not extreme at all. It just HAPPENED to hit a heavily populated area, whose town planners should have been drawn and quartered years ago.

You would think that cyclones (et al), fires, floods, droughts etc are all man-made disasters the way some people carry on. I wonder if some are going to start linking earthquakes to climate change too. Just wait for it....

I dont for a moment wish to diminish the impact of these events on the lives of the people directly involved. But for goodness sakes, mother nature has always been rather harsh (ask the residents of Pompeii), and humans as well as everything else on this planet have not been able to make much difference at all to this. We just feel as though we SHOULD be able to - pride comes before a fall....