Coalition's axing of funding to climate change adaptation body condemned

National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility funding was discontinued in 2017, while Scott Morrison was treasurer

The Coalition's decision to axe funding to a climate change adaptation research body in 2017 has left Australia "not well positioned" to deal with fires, the "silent killer" of drought and other global heating impacts, its director has said.

Jean Palutikof, the director of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), told Guardian Australia the decision to discontinue funding in 2017 - when Scott Morrison was treasurer - had hollowed out the research community and "the capacity to take action on climate change is smaller than it was decade ago".