Australia faces potentially disastrous consequences of climate change, inquiry told

Former defence force chief decries Australia's response to climate challenge as a 'manifest failure of leadership'

Military and climate experts, including a former chief of the defence force, have warned that Australia faces potential "disastrous consequences" from climate change, including "revolving" natural disasters and the forced migration of tens of millions of people across the region, overwhelming security forces and government.

Former defence force chief Adm Chris Barrie, now adjunct professor at the strategic and defence studies centre at the Australian National University, said in a submission to a Senate inquiry that Australia's ability to mitigate and respond to the impacts of climate change had been corrupted by political timidity: "Australia's climate change credentials have suffered from a serious lack of political leadership".