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Thousands of protesters rallied in Sydney on Wednesday demanding urgent climate action from Australia's government, as bushfire smoke choking the city caused health problems to spike. Sydney has endured weeks bathed in toxic smoke as hundreds of blazes have raged across the countryside, with hospitals recording a 25 percent increase in the number of people visiting emergency departments last week. On Tuesday smoke alarms rang out across Australia's biggest city, with thick haze triggering smoke alarms and forcing buildings to be evacuated, school children to be kept indoors, and ferries to be cancelled. The devastating fires have focused attention on climate change, with scientists saying the blazes have come earlier and with more intensity than usual due to global warming and a prolonged drought. Around 5,000 people gathered as the demonstration began, voicing anger at the government's silence in the face of the crisis. ‘The country is on fire’ said 26-year-old Samuel Wilkie attending his first climate protest. He described politicians' response as ‘pathetic’. ‘Our government is not doing anything about it,’ said 29-year-old landscape gardener Zara Zoe. ‘No one is listening, no one is doing anything.’ Prime Minister Scott Morrison -- a staunch backer of Australia's vast coal industry -- has said little about the smoke since the crisis began, preferring to focus on fire-hit rural communities. Organiser Chloe Rafferty said that had created anger at the conservative government's inaction. ‘I think the wider public can see that we are not expecting the climate crisis in the future but we are facing the climate crisis now,’ she told AFP. ‘People are experiencing it in their day-to-day lives.’ As well as a rise in people visiting hospitals with smoke-related health symptoms, the number of emergency calls for ambulances spiked 30 percent last week. ‘For most people, smoke causes mild symptoms like sore eyes, nose and throat,’ top health department official Richard Broome said. ‘However, people with conditions like asthma, emphysema and angina are at greater risk because the smoke can trigger their symptoms.’ Smoke from bushfires is one of the biggest contributors to air pollution in Australia, releasing fine particles that can lodge deep within people's lungs and cause ‘severe’ health impacts over time, according to scientist Mick Meyer from government-funded scientific research agency CSIRO. ‘The impact of smoke on people remote from the fires may, on occasion, substantially exceed the direct injury to people within the fire zone,’ he wrote in The Conversation. ‘But we currently lack the operational tools to understand the extent of these impacts or to manage them.’ Six people have been killed and more than 700 houses destroyed in bushfires this fire season. Though the human toll has been far lower than the deadliest fire season in 2009 -- when almost 200 people died -- the scale of this year's devastation has been widely described as unprecedented. Three million hectares (7.4 million acres) of land has been burnt -- the size of some small countries -- and vast swathes of koala habitat scorched. Official data shows 2019 is on track to be one of the hottest and driest years on record in Australia.

A thick blanket of smoke in Sydney, due to massive bushfires, triggered dozens of false fire alarms on Tuesday, Australian authorities said. Dozens of bushfires surrounded and choked the harbour city on Tuesday, heightened by high temperatures and strong winds. Smoke across Australia's most-populated city resulted in air pollution that is 11 times worse than the typical ‘hazardous’ level, the New South Wales environment department said Tuesday afternoon. Its air quality index showed worse conditions in Sydney's east and north-west. Visibility was also extremely low in most of Sydney due to smoke haze.  Several Sydney ferries have been cancelled due to the smoke and trains have been warned about false fire alarms at stations.  Several offices in the central business district, including the courts, were evacuated due to smoke entering the buildings.  Even the New South Wales Rural Fire Service headquarters in western Sydney was hit by thick smoke, which set off alarms. The building had to be briefly evacuated on Tuesday morning.  Roger Mentha, the assistant commissioner of New South Wales Fire and Rescue, the metropolitcan fire brigade, said his teams had responded to more than 500 automatic fire alarms caused by smoke entering buildings. ‘This amount of calls peaked between 11 am and 12 midday with 154 automatic alarms. As a result there were also over 335 triple-zero emergency calls,’ he told reporters in Sydney. The number of calls was unprecedented, which increased as the cloud of smoke ‘descended on the city,’ Mentha said, adding that resources were stretched and being prioritised. The state education department advised schools to cancel all outdoor activities, while union officials asked that the workers be allowed to not work outside. Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, who is in Australia for several shows, said on Twitter that Sydney ‘looks spooky as fuck with all this smoke proper shitting it.’  The Bureau of Meteorology said Tuesday morning light winds and an abundance of smoke led to low visibility and hazardous air quality levels in parts of Sydney and its surrounds.  Extraordinarily thick smoke is combining with high temperatures across parts of the state, as well as the capital Canberra, to create potentially hazardous health conditions, the bureau said in the afternoon on its Twitter feed. The hot weather and gusty winds are also creating hazardous bushfire conditions, it said.  The ‘grotty’ pollution puts ‘a lot of stress on vulnerable people, particularly elderly people who have existing heat and lung conditions,’ according to state environment health department.  The consistently smoky conditions affecting Sydney over the past month are unprecedented, said Richard Broome, director of the environment health authority.  ‘The smoke here in Sydney is extremely bad today, it is some of the worst air quality we've seen,’ Broome told reporters on Tuesday.  Earlier, Australian authorities issued warnings of dangerous fire conditions as temperatures and winds in the bushfire-ravaged state crept up again and Sydney was blanketed in thick smoke.  The weather is forecast to get worse, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius amid high winds and low humidity conditions.  That combination spells ‘a lethal condition’ for bushfires, according to state authorities.  Some 2,000 firefighters are battling more than 80 bushfires that continue to burn across the state, including the so-called ‘megafire’ to the north-west of Sydney that has a 60-kilometre fire front after several blazes combined last week into one big fire. The smoky conditions ‘are proving to be quite a challenge for firefighters on the ground, and in the air,’ RFS said on Twitter.  Prime Minister Scott Morrison asked ‘people to take great care and to follow the advice and the warnings.’   ‘Our thoughts are with all of those who are out there doing their job today,’ he told reporters in Sydney.  Meanwhile, Sydney's pollution and low visibility due to smoke have forced organizers of the Big Boat Challenge, a lead-up to the traditional Sydney to Hobart race, to cancel their event this year.  The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) made the decision to cancel just hours before the start of the race on Tuesday. According to the authorities, bush and grass fires have now already burnt 2.7 million hectares of land in eastern Australia since the bushfire season started early in October.  Six lives have been lost and more than 900 homes have been destroyed or damaged.

Queensland will launch a bid to bring the Summer Olympics to Australia for the third time in 2032 if it can get financial support from central and local government, state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Monday. The bid would be centred on the city of Brisbane and the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast beach resort areas of the southeast of the state, and take place from July 23 to Aug. 8 2032, she told a news conference. ‘This is about so much more than a few weeks of sport,’ Palaszczuk added in a statement. ‘Hosting the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics could be a game-changer and deliver 20 years of accelerated opportunity for our state. ‘That's why cabinet has today made the decision to continue working towards securing a Games - and we will continue to work closely with our partners to ensure we receive the financial support we require from all levels of government. ‘There's more work to do to ensure we are in a position to put a compelling case to the International Olympic Committee.’ Australia hosted the Olympics in 1956 in Melbourne and again in Sydney in 2000 but Brisbane's bid to bring the Games to Queensland in 1992 lost out to Barcelona. The state has twice hosted the Commonwealth Games -- in Brisbane in 1982 and the Gold Coast last year -- and Palaszczuk estimated that up to 80% of the venues required to stage the Olympics were already in place or would be temporary. Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison is on record as saying his government would back the bid ‘all the way’ and Palaszczuk said the Olympics could create 130,000 jobs and boost ‘tourism spending’ by A$20 million ($13.57 million). ‘The world's greatest event provides a platform like no other. It's an opportunity to showcase Queensland to the rest of the world,’ she added. ‘Hosting around 11,000 athletes from 206 countries, and an estimated television audience of 3.2 billion people would see the world watching Queensland at its best.’ There are indications that rival bids for 2032 may come from Indonesia, India, Spain, Germany, Italy, Britain and Russia, while North and South Korea are investigating a joint proposal to bring the Olympics back to the peninsula. Tokyo will host the Summer Olympics for the second time next year with Paris locked in for 2024 and a return to Los Angeles for the third time in 2028 already confirmed.

* About 2,000 firefighters undertake emergency back-burning * Temperatures in NSW to top 40 degrees Celsius * Sydney water restrictions begin on Tuesday Thousands of firefighters burned grassland in eastern Australia on Monday in a desperate bid to starve an anticipated new front of bushfires of fuel before forecast searing temperatures on Tuesday. More than 100 fires are ablaze in New South Wales and Victoria states, many of which have been burning for several weeks and including a single blaze that stretches more than 60 km (37.2 miles) in a national park north of Sydney. Conditions are expected to worsen from Tuesday, when temperatures are forecast to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and winds are expected to start picking up. ‘We are expecting to see across large geographic areas high fire dangers,’ Fitzsimmons told reporters in Sydney. ‘Firefighters are doing kilometres and kilometres of back burning operations, containment line establishment and consolidation.’ Wildfires have killed at least four people, destroyed more than 680 homes and burned more than 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) of bushland across eastern Australia since the start of November. Bushfires are common in Australia's hot, dry summers, but the ferocity and early arrival of the fires in the southern spring is unprecedented. Experts have said climate change has left bushland tinder-dry. Stoked by strong winds, several fires have combined into a single massive blaze that is threatening the region of Hawkesbury, about 50 km north west of Sydney. Authorities have warned the blaze is unlikely to be extinguished until meaningful rain arrives - which is not expected for at least three months - and forecasts indicate the fire could be pushed towards larger population areas. ‘The big danger is if the winds come from the west and that's exactly what is forecast,’ Hawkesbury City Mayor Barry Calvert told Reuters. ‘People are trying to clear their gutters, clean up the leaves on the ground, anything they can do to keep their properties safe.’ Calvert said many locals were struggling to move animals and livestock in an area renowned for breeding racehorses. ‘We've opened the showground for people to move their animals, but many people here may have 20 horses and only two horse boxes so they can't move them quickly,’ Calvert told Reuters. The wildfires have blanketed Sydney - home to more than 5 million people - in smoke and ash for more than two weeks, turning the daytime sky orange, obscuring visibility and prompting commuters to wear breathing masks. The city, usually known for its sea breezes, clear skies and beach-dotted coastline, has made several appearances in the top ten lists of the most polluted cities in the world. Severe water restrictions begin in the harbour city on Tuesday. Australia's worst bushfires on record destroyed thousands of homes in Victoria state in February 2009, killing 173 people and injuring 414.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has paid tribute to hundreds of firefighters as they continue to battle massive bushfires wreaking havoc in the country’s east.  Morrison yesterday visited the control room of New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) in the Hawkesbury region, where several bushfires merged last week to form a “mega blaze” in Sydney’s north-west. Morrison attended a briefing from local firefighters, RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said on his Twitter yesterday. “The PM also delivered a message of thanks to crews in the field, via the radio network,” Fitzsimmons said. The Gospers Mountain mega blaze, which has merged with neighbouring fires and formed a 60-km fire front, continued to burn yesterday. It is about 75km north-west of Sydney’s city centre. Authorities have said it has become “too big to be put out” and will likely burn for weeks until substantial rain falls in January. Some 1,600 firefighters are battling about 100 bushfires across the state. Yesterday, they were able to take advantage of “benign” weather conditions and conducted backburning, as well as establish containment lines with dozers. The worst bushfire conditions have been predicted for Tuesday, with heat reaching more than 40C amid strong winds. Fitzsimmons told Channel Seven television the firefighters were trying to “gain the upper hand before we see those conditions deteriorate into Tuesday.”  Sydney’s beachgoers found black ash and other debris in the city’s eastern shores yesterday due to smog from bushfires burning across the state, with many sharing the photos on social media.

Smoke haze from bushfires raging in Australia spread to the capital Sunday, as firefighters raced to contain more than 140 blazes ahead of a heatwave forecast early this week. Australia is experiencing a horrific start to its fire season, which scientists say began earlier and is more extreme this year due to a prolonged drought and the effects of climate change. Residents of Canberra in the country's southeast woke up to see the capital shrouded in haze Sunday, joining those in Sydney who have endured weeks of toxic air pollution caused by bushfire smoke. Officials said favourable weather conditions had given them a chance to bring several blazes under control before the forecast return of strong winds and high temperatures Tuesday. Among those is a ‘mega fire’ burning across 250,000 hectares within an hour's drive of Sydney, Australia's largest city, where ash from the fires has occasionally fallen. Firefighters are now bracing for Tuesday, when temperatures are expected to reach above 40 Celsius in parts of New South Wales state -- worst-hit by the bushfires -- and gusting westerly winds are likely to fan the flames. ‘Today (fire) crews will be doing what they can to consolidate and strengthen containment lines, which in some areas will include backburning,’ NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Greg Allan told AFP. But the state's Bureau of Meteorology warned that the massive fires are ‘in some cases just too big to put out at the moment’. ‘They're pumping out vast amounts of smoke which is filling the air, turning the sky orange & even appearing like significant rain on our radars,’ the department tweeted. Nearly 50 reinforcements from the United States and Canada have been flown in to support fatigued firefighters in recent days, with the international contingent tasked with providing logistical assistance. In neighbouring Queensland, the focus was also on managing fatigue among frontline firefighters -- who in both states are almost all volunteers -- as weather there provided a brief reprieve from weeks of battling blazes. ‘We're just looking to wind down and recover and prepare for the next round, whenever that may be,’ a Queensland Fire and Emergency Service spokesman told AFP. Since the crisis began in September, six people have been killed, more than 700 homes destroyed and an estimated two million hectares (almost five million acres) scorched. Though the human toll has been far lower than the deadliest fire season in 2009 -- when almost 200 people died -- the scale of this year's devastation has been widely described as unprecedented, as Australians grapple with the impacts of a changing climate. Official data shows 2019 is on track to be one of the hottest and driest years on record in Australia.

Out of control bushfires forced residents in eastern Australia to flee their homes yesterday, as other parts of the country braced for a heatwave due next week. Bushfires are common in the country but scientists say this year’s season has come earlier and with more intensity due to a prolonged drought and climatic conditions fuelled by global warming. Scorching temperatures have tipped above 40C (104F) close to where a fire was burning on the outskirts of Brisbane in Queensland state, with residents in three suburbs told to “leave  immediately”. “Conditions are now very dangerous and firefighters may soon be unable to prevent the fire advancing,” the Queensland Fire Authorities warned. “The fire may pose a threat to all lives directly in its path.” A shipping container full of fireworks exploded as the fire raged, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the explosion.  More than 100 fires were burning across Australia’s east yesterday, including a “mega fire” burning north of Sydney. After combining with other bushfires on Friday the huge blaze is now under control but continued to burn across 250,000 hectares within an hour’s drive of Australia’s  largest city. Sydney has been engulfed in toxic smoke for weeks and occasionally sprinkled with snow-like embers. The pilot of a helicopter supporting the fire efforts was lucky to escape with just minor injuries after crashing about 200km north of the city yesterday. Easing conditions overnight provided brief respite in New South Wales state and allowed for controlled burning to prevent future damage during the anticipated heatwave.  But firefighters remained on high alert as blustery winds threatened to fan unpredictable flames. Authorities Saturday were bracing for more dire conditions next week when temperatures in parts of the state are expected to tip over 40C.  “So a lot of work ahead over the coming days, particularly in anticipation of what is expected to be another heatwave coming into Tuesday,” state fire service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told national broadcaster ABC. A drought has left much of eastern Australia tinder-dry and spot fires have raged every day for the past three months. More than 600 homes have been destroyed and six people have died since the crisis began in September. That is many fewer than Australia’s deadliest recent fire season in 2009 when almost 200 people died, but 2019’s toll so far belies the scale of devastation. An estimated 2mn hectares have burned - the size of some small countries - across a region spanning hundreds of kilometres (miles).

A giant bushfire on the edge of Sydney, which has blanketed the city in smoke causing a spike in respiratory illnesses and the cancellation of outdoor sports, will take weeks to control but will not be extinguished without heavy rains, firefighters said. Thousands of weary firefighters, who have been battling bushfires for a month, were on Saturday fighting nearly 100 blazes in New South Wales state. The mega fire north of Sydney, Australia's largest city, was created on Friday when several fires merged and was now burning across 335,000 hectares (830,000 acres). ‘We need flooding rain to put these fires out. That's really what is going to stop it,’ said the New South Wales Rural Fire Service. ‘These will take many weeks to put out.’ Bushfires are common in Australia during the hot summer, which begins in December, but this year the fires started much earlier, blamed on soaring temperatures, dry winds and arson. A three-year drought has left much of Australia tinder dry. The fires around Sydney have been pumping such vast amounts of smoke into the air that they appear as significant rain on the radars, the Bureau of Meteorology said on Twitter. New South Wales Health said late on Friday that some 1,140 people had sought medical assistance for breathing issues or asthma in the past week - a quarter more than in a typical week. NSW Ambulance fielded about a third more calls. Six people have been killed, nearly 700 houses burnt down and millions of hectares of land razed. Strong winds fanned flames towards several suburbs in southwest Sydney on Saturday. ‘It's been going on all day, a fire came from the back and we put it out. But then another one came from the side so the firies covered the house in foam.,’ said Luke Wright who helped save his brother's home. ‘The fence has been damaged but that's about it, very lucky,’ Wright told local media. Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the worst might still be ahead, with temperatures forecast to rise into the 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in coming days and no meaningful rainfall expected until late January. ‘It's a tough couple of months ahead yet and we've already seen the horrific consequences of fire so far this season,’ Fitzsimmons told Australia's 9News on Saturday. Neighbouring Queensland state was battling some 45 bushfires and temperatures on Saturday as high as 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Several Australian bushfires have combined to form a “mega fire” that is burning out of control across a swathe of land north of Sydney, authorities said yesterday, warning they cannot contain the blaze.  New South Wales Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner, Rob Rogers said “there are probably more than eight fires in all” that have merged to form what has been dubbed a “mega fire” in an area of national park forest.  The blaze was burning across 300,000 hectares — an area roughly 60km (37 miles) across — within an hour’s drive of Australia’s largest city, which was again subsumed in a soup of toxic smoke. “There is just fire that whole way” said Rogers, who added that firefighters could do little more than get any residents out, protect property and hope for an end to fire-friendly dry and windy conditions.  We “cannot stop these fires, they will just keep burning until conditions ease, and then we’ll try to do what we can to contain them,” he told public broadcaster ABC. “The best thing we can do is try to protect property and people as much as we can.”  Prolonged drought has left much of eastern Australia tinder-dry and spot fires have raged every day for the past three months.  Bushfires are common in Australia but scientists say this year’s season has come earlier and with more intensity due to a prolonged drought and climatic conditions fuelled by global warming. Dramatic footage of firefighters running from a wall of fire ripping through the tree canopy above them was captured overnight in Orangeville, less than 100km west of Sydney.  The local fire and rescue team that shot the images said no one was injured and the vehicles surrounded by the swirling embers also survived the blaze. “The video was put up to demonstrate why you need to listen to the fire advisory system,” the team from Ingleburn fire station said on Facebook. “If your property is not prepared for the bushfire season and your (sic) not sure you are able or capable of defending your property if a fire approaches you need to leave straight away,” they warned.  At a wildlife park in the area, 300 animals were evacuated. Walkabout Wildlife Park said it had shipped out lizards, dingoes, peacocks and marsupials, as firefighters battled more than 100 fires up and down the eastern seaboard.  “This fire has been doing some crazy things, so we have to be prepared,” general manager Tassin Barnard told AFP.  New South Wales rural fire chief Shane Fitzsimmons said some US and Canadian firefighters had arrived to help out. The specialists are expected to supervise waterbombing planes and heavy equipment used in creating fire containment lines.   “We are not only appreciative of their presence here today, but of their sacrifice,” said Fitzsimmons – who has become a fixture on Australian television screens for weeks, updating the public on blazes in towns, national parks and backwaters.  “They are volunteering to sacrifice time from loved ones, from families, to give up that special time of the year around Christmas and New Year to come down here and lend us a hand,” he said. More than 600 homes have been destroyed and six people have died since the crisis began in September.  That is many fewer than Australia’s deadliest recent fire season in 2009 when almost 200 people died, but 2019’s toll so far belies the scale of devastation.  An estimated 2mn hectares have burned — the size of some small countries — across a region spanning hundreds of kilometres (miles).  The fires have taken a toll in Sydney and other major cities, which have been blanketed in toxic smoke for weeks and occasionally sprinkled with snow-like embers.  Fitzsimmons said he could not “overstate the effect that this profound drought is having” as he warned of a long, painful summer ahead. “There is an absolute lack of moisture in the soil, a lack of moisture in the vegetation... you are seeing fires started very easily and they are spreading extremely quickly, and they are burning ridiculously intensely.”

Several Australian bushfires have combined to form a "mega fire" that is burning out of control across a swathe of land north of Sydney, authorities said Friday, warning they cannot contain the blaze. New South Wales Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner, Rob Rogers said "there are probably more than eight fires in all" that have merged to form what has been dubbed a "mega fire" in an area of national park forest. The blaze was burning across 300,000 hectares -- an area roughly 60 kilometres across -- within an hour's drive of Australia's largest city, which was again subsumed in a soup of toxic smoke. "There is just fire that whole way" said Rogers, who added that firefighters could do little more than get any residents out, protect property and hope for an end to fire-friendly dry and windy conditions. We "cannot stop these fires, they will just keep burning until conditions ease, and then we'll try to do what we can to contain them," he told public broadcaster ABC. "The best thing we can do is try to protect property and people as much as we can." Prolonged drought has left much of eastern Australia tinder-dry and spot fires have raged every day for the past three months. Bushfires are common in Australia but scientists say this year's season has come earlier and with more intensity due to a prolonged drought and climatic conditions fuelled by global warming. Dramatic footage of firefighters running from a wall of fire ripping through the tree canopy above them was captured overnight in Orangeville, less than 100 kilometres west of Sydney. The local fire and rescue team that shot the images said no one was injured and the vehicles surrounded by the swirling embers also survived the blaze. "The video was put up to demonstrate why you need to listen to the fire advisory system," the team from Ingleburn fire station said on Facebook. "If your property is not prepared for the bushfire season and your (sic) not sure you are able or capable of defending your property if a fire approaches you need to leave straight away," they warned. At a wildlife park in the area, 300 animals were evacuated. Walkabout Wildlife Park said it had shipped out lizards, dingoes, peacocks and marsupials, as firefighters battled more than 100 fires up and down the eastern seaboard. "This fire has been doing some crazy things, so we have to be prepared," general manager Tassin Barnard told AFP. New South Wales rural fire chief Shane Fitzsimmons said some US and Canadian firefighters had arrived to help out. The specialists are expected to supervise waterbombing planes and heavy equipment used in creating fire containment lines. "We are not only appreciative of their presence here today, but of their sacrifice," said Fitzsimmons -- who has become a fixture on Australian television screens for weeks, updating the public on blazes in towns, national parks and backwaters. "They are volunteering to sacrifice time from loved ones, from families, to give up that special time of the year around Christmas and New Year to come down here and lend us a hand," he said. More than 600 homes have been destroyed and six people have died since the crisis began in September. That is many fewer than Australia's deadliest recent fire season in 2009 when almost 200 people died, but 2019's toll so far belies the scale of devastation. An estimated two million hectares have burned -- the size of some small countries -- across a region spanning hundreds of kilometres. The fires have taken a toll in Sydney and other major cities, which have been blanketed in toxic smoke for weeks and occasionally sprinkled with snow-like embers. Fitzsimmons said he could not "overstate the effect that this profound drought is having" as he warned of a long, painful summer ahead. "There is an absolute lack of moisture in the soil, a lack of moisture in the vegetation... you are seeing fires started very easily and they are spreading extremely quickly, and they are burning ridiculously intensely."

Australian bushfires have caused unprecedented pollution in Sydney and along the country’s east coast, officials said yesterday, with smoke and dust burning residents’ eyes and prompting a spike in respiratory complaints. Hundreds of bushfires have burned out of control since September up and down the eastern seaboard, blanketing cities from Sydney to Brisbane in smoke for weeks on end.  The extent of the crisis was made clear yesterday, with the New South Wales department of environment declaring bushfires and dust had caused “some of the highest air pollution ever seen” in Australia. The region “has experienced other periods of poor air quality that lasted several weeks, including the 1994 Sydney bushfires and the Black Christmas bushfires of Dec 2001-Jan 2002,” a spokeswoman told AFP.  “This event, however, is the longest and the most widespread in our records.”  New South Wales Rural Fire Service said more than a dozen fires were burning near Sydney yesterday, including three that carried an emergency warning.  For three weeks the city has seen almost daily air quality warnings.  Bushfires are common in Australia, but scientists say this year’s season has come earlier and with more intensity due to a prolonged drought fuelled by climate change.  New South Wales health officials said more people with asthma were turning up at hospitals, and ambulance call-outs for breathing problems were up 24 percent in the week to December 1.   Meanwhile, tourists and residents took measures to combat the smoke, buying facemasks and staying indoors as much as possible.  Yesterday, Sydney’s air quality index registered fine particulate pollution — small enough to penetrate deep inside the lungs — at over 160 parts per million, far above levels considered to be safe.  Local newspapers and television have posted advice about how to limit the impact of the smoke — offering tips on what masks to buy and what activities are safest.   The smoke caused golfers at the Australian Open — one of the world’s oldest national opens — to complain about conditions.  “It’s tough to see your golf ball when you’re out there playing, where it finishes. Your eyes do burn,” said 2015 champion Matt Jones.  

* Doctors can no longer order evacuations of sick asylum seekers * 500 people remain in Pacific camps, many have health issues * Australia under pressure to clear detention centres  Australia on Wednesday removed the right of doctors to order sick asylum seekers be evacuated from two remote Pacific detention centres for medical treatment, a repeal that opponents said risks the lives of refugees. Under Australia's controversial immigration policy, asylum seekers intercepted at sea are sent to camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. They can never settle in Australia, even if they are found to be refugees. In February, independent lawmakers and the opposition joined forces to give doctors the right to order sick asylum seekers be sent to Australia if they required medical care. After securing re-election in May, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government would seek to repeal the legislation, though he needed the support of independent lawmakers as the coalition does not enjoy a majority in Australia's upper house Senate. After weeks of negotiations, the repeal legislation passed Australia's Senate by 37 votes to 35. "You can take advice from doctors, but doctors aren't elected. They aren't accountable to the public," independent lawmaker Jacqui Lambie, who cast the decisive vote, told the Senate. Around 500 people remain on the two island centres, many suffering mental health issues after more than six years in detention, aid organisations say. The United Nations has repeatedly criticised Australia's remote detention centres, insisting they lack adequate medical and mental health care. "To now deny medical professionals from taking decisions in patients’ best interests - and to effectively hand that power back to unqualified officials... puts those most sick and vulnerable at risk," Paul McPhun, Executive Director of Médecins Sans Frontières Australia said in a statement. Morrison rejected those allegations, insisting Canberra has provided significant medical aid, while those unable to get necessary treatment can be sent to Australia if the minister for home affairs approves it. As a result, Morrison said the medical evacuation legislation is unnecessary and undermines Canberra's border policy, designed to discourage asylum seekers from undertaking dangerous sea voyages to Australia. In 2016, Australia agreed a deal with former U.S. President Barack Obama to offer refuge to up to 1,250 asylum seekers. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump said it would only honour that deal to maintain a strong relationship with Australia, and then only on condition that refugees satisfied strict checks. Around 650 refugees have been resettled in the United States, with a further 250 in PNG and Nauru approved to go at a future date, Peter Dutton, the Minister for Home Affairs told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. Australia has rejected offers from neighbouring New Zealand to take a further 150 asylum seekers, fearing refugees will use it as a 'backdoor entry' into Australia. Media reported Lambie has sought a commitment that Canberra will now accept Wellington's offer. Morrison and Lambie declined to comment. 

A Chinese spy who defected to Australia says he is seeking asylum after reportedly revealing details of political interference operations by Beijing to Australian intelligence. Newspapers from media group Nine reported that Wang ‘William’ Liqiang had provided a trove of Chinese spying secrets to Australia's counter-espionage agency ASIO since he decided to defect in May. ‘I have personally been involved and participated in a series of espionage activities,’ Wang said in a statement to ASIO in October, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Wang said he was involved in covert operations to undermine Hong Kong's democracy movement and efforts to interfere in the political system in Taiwan. ‘This is the main reason I came to Australia to seek asylum. Once I was found out, my safety would be at stake,’ he said during a video interview with Channel Nine television, in comments dubbed into English. In extracts of the interview - the full version of which is set for broadcast on Sunday - Wang said that if he goes back ‘I will be dead.’  Australia's Treasurer Josh Fydenberg told reporters on Saturday that the claim of espionage and a defecting Chinese spy was a ‘sensitive matter’ being investigated by the relevant authorities. ‘These are very disturbing reports and the matter is now in the hands of the appropriate law enforcement agencies,’ Frydenberg said, according to broadcaster ABC. Wang claimed to be part of clandestine operations to infiltrate Hong Kong universities and media. He also said he was part of the team that kidnapped booksellers who had sold books that displeased the Chinese Communist Party. Wang said that his decision to defect came as he was about to be sent to Taiwan on a South Korean passport to run local operations to meddle in the 2020 elections. Wang is currently living in Sydney with his wife and infant son on a tourist visa, the newspaper said. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese told reporters that Wang's claim for asylum is ‘a decision for the government’, and he is seeking a briefing on the matter with the appropriate agencies next week. ‘We need to make sure that Australia's national sovereignty is protected,’ the ABC reported Albanese as saying. ‘We know that he has outlined a range of activities which clearly put him in a circumstance whereby it's a legitimate claim for asylum.’

Australia’s Prime Minister yesterday denied his climate policies had caused unprecedented bushfires ravaging the country and insisted his government was doing enough to tackle global warming.  As dozens of new blazes scorched the countryside and the country’s largest city was cloaked in hazardous smoke, conservative leader Scott Morrison defended his climate record, saying Australia was “doing our bit”.  His comments came after weeks spent refusing to speak about the link between climate change and deadly fires described by the emergency services as unprecedented in number and scale for the early bushfire season.  As more people in the southeast of the country were told to evacuate their homes and schoolchildren in Sydney were again forced to play indoors, Morrison dismissed mounting calls for action.  “The suggestion that any way shape or form that Australia – accounting for 1.3% of the world’s emissions... are impacting directly on specific fire events, whether it is here or anywhere else in the world, that doesn’t bear up to credible scientific evidence,” he told ABC radio.   Scientists, former fire chiefs and residents touched by bushfires have all drawn the link between this season’s more intense fires and climate change.  Drought, unseasonably hot, dry and windy conditions have fuelled the unprecedented blazes. Scientists believe many of those factors are made worse by rising global temperatures.  Yesterday, bushfires burned across every region of Australia with residents in Victoria warned to leave high-risk areas and officials in New South Wales reporting more than 600 homes have been destroyed in recent weeks.  Morrison is facing calls to cut greenhouse gas emissions and rapidly transition to renewable energy – a sensitive debate in light of Australia’s lucrative mining industry.  Australia has signed up to globally agreed climate targets to help limit warming, but its emissions continue to rise and targets are only being met with the use of some creative carbon accounting – using credits gained in past decades.  The country committed to cut emissions to 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030 under the 2016 Paris climate accord, but emissions have risen every year since then.  And while Australia’s burning of fossil fuels accounts for only a fraction of global emissions, coal dug up Down Under and burned around the world makes the country a major emissions exporter. Devastating fires along the country’s east coast have claimed six lives since mid-October.  Now the fire danger has moved into states further south, with more than 60 fires breaking out in Victoria yesterday — including five at “emergency” level — after a so-called “Code Red” fire danger was declared for the first time in a decade.  Victoria Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said firefighters were batting “some of the worst conditions that you’d expect to see, often in February or March, and we’re seeing them in November”. “It is incredibly dry, it will continue to get drier as the months go on over this summer, so the conditions we see today are likely conditions that we’ll confront over this summer,” she said.  The Bureau of Meteorology said “large areas” of central and eastern Victoria broke maximum temperature records for November – including in Melbourne where the mercury reached 40.9C – while a dramatic dust storm swept through the town of Mildura, turning the sky a vivid orange.  Country Fire Authority chief Steve Warrington earlier told people living in high-risk rural areas to leave for the safety of cities.  “We are saying, ‘do not be there, do not be there when a fire occurs, because you will not survive if you are there’,” he said.  The fire danger was also elevated to “extreme” in the island state of Tasmania off mainland Australia’s southeastern coast, one of several areas where a total fire ban was declared.  For the second time in three days, smoke from bushfires blanketed Sydney, Australia’s biggest city and an area that is home to more than five million people, sending air quality plummeting to hazardous levels.  In South Australia, the state capital Adelaide was also shrouded in bushfire smoke and residents were being told to stay indoors for health reasons.   More than 110 fires are still burning in worst-hit New South Wales and neighbouring Queensland, while in South Australia more than 40 fires broke out during catastrophic fire conditions on Wednesday.   The country is bracing for challenging fire conditions to continue throughout the Southern Hemisphere summer.

An Australian wildlife ranger has recounted his terrifying escape from the clutches of a "particularly cunning" crocodile, after wrestling with the reptile and sticking a finger in its eye. Craig Dickmann, who made a split-second decision to go fishing last Sunday in a remote part of Northern Australia known as "croc country" last Sunday, said a nine-foot crocodile came up from behind him as he was leaving the beach. "As I've turned to go, the first thing I see is its head just come at me," he told reporters on Friday from his hospital bed in the town of Cairns in Queensland state. Dickmann said the animal latched on to his thigh. "That noise will haunt me forever I think, the sound of the snap of its jaws," he said. The 54-year-old said he wrestled with the croc on the remote beach as it tried to drag him into the water. Dickmann stuck his thumb into its eye, saying it was the only "soft spot" he found on the "bullet-proof" animal. "Their eyes retract a fair way and when you go down far enough you can feel bone so I pushed as far as I possibly could and then it let go at that point," Dickmann said. After a few minutes, he said he managed to get on top of the croc and pin its jaws shut. "And then, I think both the croc and I had a moment where we're going, 'well, what do we do now?'" Dickmann said he then pushed the croc away from him and it slid back into the water. The ranger had skin ripped from his hands and legs in the ordeal and drove more than 45 minutes back to his home before calling emergency services. It was then another hour in the car to meet the Royal Flying Doctors Service who flew him to Cairns Hospital, where he is recovering from the ordeal. "This croc was particularly cunning and particularly devious, " he said. Queensland's department of environment this week euthanized the animal. "The area is known croc country and people in the area are reminded to always be crocwise," the department said in a statement. Saltwater crocodiles, which can grow up to seven metres long and weigh more than a tonne, are common in the vast continent's tropical north. Their numbers have exploded since they were declared a protected species in the 1970s, with attacks on humans rare. According to the state government, the last non-fatal attack was in January 2018 in the Torres Strait while the last death was in October 2017 in Port Douglas.

Dozens of wild fires burned across broad swaths of Australia's east and west on Saturday and firefighters scrambled to shore up defences ahead of hotter weather and stronger winds expected to bring more danger in the coming days. Temperatures of above 40 degrees Celsius were forecast for parts of Western Australia on Sunday before spreading east next week and worsening conditions in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland, two states already stricken by devastating bushfires. Australia's bushfire are a common and deadly threat but the early outbreak this year in the southern spring has already claimed several lives and destroyed more than 300 homes over the past week. Severe fire danger conditions are expected to continue in NSW on Sunday where about 60 bush and grass fires are still burning, according to NSW Rural Fire Service. Firefighters strengthened containment lines by back burning around the Gospers Mountain fire, which is blazing across more than 112,000 acres near Sydney's northwest outskirts, but the fire is yet to be contained. Back burns are fires deliberately lit to clear dry undergrowth. More homes are expected to be lost. "Even if we bring in an extra 1,000 firefighters, we still don't have enough trucks and firefighters for every single home in New South Wales," NSW Rural Fire Service Inspector Ben Shepherd told Sky News. Most national parks on the mid-to-north coast of the state, including in the northern Blue Mountains will remain closed until further notice as fire danger remains very high to severe, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage said on Twitter. NSW Police said in a statement that a 51-year-old man has been charged after allegedly lighting a fire which is now out of control in the state's Northern Tablelands. Police alleged that "the man lit the fire as an attempt to back burn for the protection of a cannabis crop and perceived benefit from recovery work after the fire and made no attempt to control the blaze," they said in a statement. In New South Wales, four people have died and 303 homes have been destroyed since Nov. 9. This year's early bushfire season in the country is expected to be long and brutal as a three-year drought has left broad swathes of Australia's east and west more susceptible to fire. In Queensland, there were several major fires on Saturday still of concern and gusty winds were expected on Sunday, worsening conditions after 16 homes were destroyed in the past week. "Most of the state will experience high and very high conditions this weekend," Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said on Twitter. "Keep on keeping on - we'll get through this together." 

* London-Sydney test flight landed after 19 hrs, 19 mins * Qantas considering order for A350-1000 or 777-8 * Intends to approve or reject business case this year  Qantas Airways Ltd could place an order for planes capable of ultra long-haul flights early next year, the airline's chief executive said after he completed a 19 hour, 19 minute non-stop test flight from London to Sydney on Friday. Alan Joyce said he saw a "double sunrise" as a passenger aboard the second of three research flights being conducted to help the Australian airline decide on whether to order planes for what would be the world's longest commercial route. The intention is to make a decision by the end of the year based on considerations such as aircraft price, seating configuration and a pay agreement with pilots, Joyce said after his return to Sydney. "An order could follow into early next year," he told reporters. Qantas has named the ultra long-haul project "Project Sunrise" after the airline's double-sunrise endurance flights during World War Two. The plane on the London-Sydney research flight, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, carried 50 passengers and had fuel remaining for roughly another 1 hour 45 minutes of flight time when it landed. Qantas has been considering an order for either an ultra-long range version of Airbus SE's A350-1000 or the Boeing Co 777-8, although the latter plane's entry into service has been delayed and so Boeing has put together an alternative offer to deal with that. Captain Helen Trenerry, who led the test flight, said before takeoff on Wednesday that research data including activity monitoring, sleep diaries, cognitive testing and monitoring of melatonin levels would help determine whether the crew mix of one captain, one first officer and two second officers was appropriate or if more experience was needed. "They will be very, very long flights and fatiguing over the long term," she said, adding she would like to see regulations in place to limit the trips to around one a month for pilots. After the flight on Friday she told reporters she would "absolutely" do the flight again but "I don't know about often". If Qantas goes ahead, the route would be launched in 2023. Mark Sedgwick, the president of the Australian and International Pilots Association representing Qantas pilots, said more research would be needed to inform broader fatigue-management plans. Ultra-long range flights would be a game-changing opportunity for Qantas as it looks to capture a premium from travellers in return for cutting out a stop-over, Citi analysts said in a note to clients published in July. They forecast non-stop flights from Sydney to London and New York could add A$180 million ($123.4 million) annually to the carrier's profit before tax, which was A$1.3 billion in the financial year ended June 30. Qantas is due to hold an investor briefing on Tuesday where it could provide guidance on future capital spending plans. 

Australians yesterday began sifting through the ashes of hundreds of bushfires that have ravaged the country, relieved that their worst fears were unrealised – but wary of a long and brutal summer ahead.   Firefighters were still battling around 140 blazes across the country’s eastern seaboard, but a respite from “catastrophic” weather conditions meant the danger from many fires was downgraded.  The northern state of Queensland remained on high alert, with residents on the north shore of popular holiday town Noosa told to “leave immediately” to avoid an “unpredictable” fire burning nearby. Underscoring the risks to residents and emergency responders, a firefighting helicopter crashed during waterbombing operations in the state.   The pilot survived with “non-life-threatening injuries”, a Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman told AFP.  In the worst-hit areas of New South Wales, cooler southerly winds eased conditions – a stark contrast with the gale-force gusts and high temperatures that plagued firefighters for much of Tuesday.   In all, 50 homes were damaged or destroyed, and around 20 people were injured, but most populated areas were spared. Residents of the small towns of Glenreagh and Nana Glen returned to find houses intact, a nearby 150,000-hectare (370,000-acre) inferno having stopped just short of their doors.  But on nearby farmland, unlucky families faced homes destroyed and cars transformed into blackened husks. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services acting commissioner Michael Wassing said another wind change yesterday afternoon could worsen several large fires in difficult-to-access areas of the state. “We’ve got another tough day today and there’s an extended forecast that we’re not out of the woods by any means,” he said.  Tough conditions were expected to flare again in Queensland and New South Wales at the weekend as the temperature rises and winds pick up. “We will not have all these fires contained before then,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said, adding that it could be “many, many weeks” before the situation is fully under control. “Unfortunately, what we need is rain ... and there is certainly nothing in the forecast for the foreseeable future that’s going to make any discernible difference.”  More than 300 new fires began in the state Tuesday, with 19 classified as emergencies. They spanned a distance of almost 1,000km (600 miles) – from the outskirts of Sydney north toward Brisbane.   “The losses, the damage, the consequences could have been simply enormous across such a broad geographic area,” Fitzsimmons said.  New South Wales Police said they had begun investigating whether a small number of the blazes had been deliberately lit, as they made handful of arrests for suspected looting of fire-stricken properties.  The hot, dry continent of Australia has long experienced bushfires, but scientists say climate change is exacerbating extreme weather conditions, including a prolonged drought in the country’s east that has created tinderbox-like conditions.  The Bureau of Meteorology says human-caused climate change is also “influencing the frequency and severity of dangerous bushfire conditions” by increasing temperatures, sapping moisture from the environment and causing an earlier and more extreme fire season. The unprecedented wave of bushfires has brought renewed calls for the conservative government to curb fossil fuels and cut greenhouse gas emissions.  However Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other senior ministers have repeatedly refused to answer questions about climate change during the unfolding catastrophe.

As firefighters struggled to contain bushfires on Wednesday, Australian authorities ordered immediate evacuations for the people most threatened, including those in coastal tourist destinations. Hot, dry and windy conditions created a severe fire danger in the state of Queensland, with more than six dozen fires still burning in the afternoon, four of them at an emergency level and seven others at a ‘watch-and-act’ level.  As some 1,500 firefighters were deployed to fight the bushfires across the state, residents in several towns were issued with ‘leave now’ warnings. One is Noosa North Shore, a popular beachside holiday destination some 150 kilometres south of the city of Brisbane, according to the Queensland state fire and emergency service.  The fire was burning within a kilometre of the beachside campground, and the only way out of Noosa North Shore is via the water. Locals were told to get on the ferries while they still could. ‘The dinghies are in the water and primed to go,’ local resident Dave Wright said, in comments to Australian newswire AAP.  Fire authorities also issued a ‘leave now’ warning for Pechey, a town some 150 kilometres inland from Brisbane. A water-bombing helicopter crashed while trying to fight bushfires in Pechey, Australian broadcaster ABC said. The pilot reportedly survived and was treated with minor injuries.  14 homes have been lost in Queensland state since late last week when the latest round of bushfires started, which forced local authorities to issue a state of emergency across 42 local government areas.  In the neighbouring state of New South Wales, more than 70 fires were burning - 50 were uncontained, but none were at an emergency level on Wednesday afternoon, the Rural Fire Service said. On Tuesday, a ‘catastrophic fire danger’ alert had been issued for Sydney, the most populous city in Australia, and nearby regions, with hot and dry weather, temperatures in the high 30s and strong winds of 80 kilometres per hour. Hollywood actor Russell Crowe said on Twitter that his property in Nana Glen, near Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales coast, was ‘hit’ by the bushfires but his family was safe.  The Rural Fire Service said 50 homes were destroyed on Tuesday, bringing the number of properties damaged or destroyed since last week to more than 300. No lives were lost on Tuesday, the fire service said, but 21 people, including 13 firefighters, were injured. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Wednesday that she was ‘hugely relieved’ that no more lives were lost on Tuesday. The bushfire season in Australia has started early this year. More than 1.1 million hectares have been destroyed - more than the combined total for the past three bushfire seasons, the Rural Fire Service said. A state of emergency is in place for the whole week in New South Wales due to the danger of spreading fires. More than 150 schools are still closed across the state. Since last week, when the latest round of bushfires started, at least three people have died and more than 120 people have been injured.  Some 3,000 firefighters, hundreds of fire trucks and 80 aircraft have been deployed or are on standby, according to RFS. Fire authorities said Wednesday it could take many months to bring all the fires under control unless there is rain.  ‘Unfortunately, what we need is rain. What we need is meaningful rain. ‘And there is certainly nothing in the forecast for the foreseeable future that's going to make any discernible difference to the conditions that we are experiencing,’ RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday morning.

Fires raged across a swathe of Australia’s east coast yesterday, destroying some homes and shrouding Sydney in smoke from a blaze authorities fear they will be unable to control until next week.  An aircraft was diverted to drop fire retardants on bushfires threatening homes in Sydney’s northern suburbs. Television footage showed some of the substance overshot the blaze, colouring houses and vehicles pink and red. Officials were responding to 11 emergency warnings in New South Wales (NSW) by evening as around half the 70 fires across the state burned uncontrolled in conditions termed “catastrophic”.  “The task to bring these fires properly under control, to consolidate them, to get around them and mop them up is enormous,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters in Sydney.  “So we’ve got a long way to go yet before we can say we’re comfortable with the state of the fires ... particularly in northern New South Wales given the enormous size of the fires that are burning still.”  The extent of damage was not known, with dangerous conditions expected to continue into the evening and then occur again on Friday and early next week. Fitzsimmons said some firefighters suffered injuries, including fractures and heat exhaustion. Bushfires are a common and deadly threat in Australia’s dry summers but the ferocity and early arrival of this outbreak in the southern hemisphere spring has caught many by surprise. Blazes have been spurred by extremely dry conditions after three years of drought in parts of NSW and Queensland, which experts say has been exacerbated by climate change.  The current outbreak, which killed three people and destroyed more than 150 homes at the weekend, has been fanned by an unprecedented combination of high temperatures and strong winds. Most of the emergency warnings issued by authorities yesterday, including for the South Turramurra fire 20km north of central Sydney, told affected residents they must seek cover and that it was too late to flee their homes. In the small town of Wauchope, 400km north of Sydney, residents moved hundreds of livestock to the central showground as fires approached. “We have at least 350 horses, maybe more. They are still coming, we have cattle and sheep and chooks (chickens) and dogs, you name it,” said Neil Coombes, president of the Wauchope Show Society. Coombes, who lives about 10km outside town, said he would likely lose his home because it was in the anticipated path of the fire. “My wife went home earlier and said, ‘is there anything you want me to get?’,” Coombes said. “I said, ‘yes, I want you back here with me.’ If the house burns it burns, but I can’t replace her,” he said. The worst of the weather was not expected until later in the evening or closer to nightfall, as winds whip up. Firefighters were closely watching a blaze in greater Sydney, especially as aircraft operations will be grounded at night. In Sydney, home to 5mn people, health authorities urged people with respiratory issues to stay indoors because the city was covered by a “hazardous” smoky haze.  Around 600 schools and colleges were closed across the state. NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said nine public schools across the state’s north were evacuated. “Safety is first and we need to evacuate to get the children out of there,” Mitchell told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The fires also forced organisers to cancel the season-ending Rally of Australia, which pitted Hyundai against Toyota. The danger was not quite as great in Queensland.  The threat level there was pegged at “severe”, two levels below the “catastrophic” conditions in NSW. Still, some 55 fires were burning across the northern state on Tuesday afternoon. The threat has sharpened attention on the policies of Australia’s conservative government to address climate change, which meteorologists have said was extending the length of the fire weather season.  Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a vocal supporter of Australia’s coal industry, has declined to answer questions about whether the current fires were a result of climate change. “The government says this isn’t the time to talk about climate change — I completely disagree, we should have been talking about this years ago,” said Carol Sparks, mayor of Glen Innes, north of Sydney, where two people died at the weekend. “We are overwhelmed with the intensity of this fire and climate change is responsible,” she said. Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack sparked debate on Monday when he accused activists, whom he called “woke capital city greenies”, of politicising a tragedy.