The federal government is continuing to play down claims of links between bushfires in Australia and climate change.
It comes amid international claims of such a link.
But questions are also being asked whether the debate should be held amid the current New South Wales bushfire crisis.
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Earlier this week, the United Nations climate chief, Christiana Figueres said it was clear bushfires were absolutely linked to climate change.
She told CNN, after watching footage of the New South Wales fires, it showed the need for action to combat climate change.
"The WMO, the World Meteorological Organisation, has not established the direct link between this wildfire and climate change yet. But what is absolutely clear is the science is telling us that there are increasing heat waves in Asia, Europe, and in Australia - that these will continue, that they will continue in their intensity, and in their frequency. So what we have just seen on the screen is an example of what we may be looking at unless we take actually vigorous action."
Speaking to Melbourne's 3AW, Prime Minister Tony Abbott accused Ms Figueres of talking through her hat.
"Fire is a part of the Australian experience. It has been since humans were on this continent. The Aboriginal people managed the landscape through various forms of fire stick farming and it took us a long time to figure out that our landscape needed to be managed and at times burnt. Climate change is real as I have often said and we should take strong action against it, but these fires are certainly not a function of climate change. They are just a function of life in Australia."
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has endorsed Mr Abbott's comments.
Mr Hunt says Australia's Bureau of Meteorology has warned against making any direct link between global warming and natural disasters.
And, speaking to the BBC, he's cited a Wikipedia article as evidence that bushfires are a normal part of Australian life.
"I actually spoke with Christina Figueres and she indicated very clearly and strongly that she was not saying that there was scientific evidence that these bushfires were caused by climate change. She felt that that had been misrepresented, and the point that we're all making is this - that Australia has since European settlement and obviously well before that, had a history of recurrent bushfires. I looked up what Wikipedia said for example, just to see what the rest of the world thought, and it opens up with the fact that bushfires in Australia are frequently occurring events during the hotter months of the year, large areas of land are ravaged every year by bushfires. That's the Australian experience."
Former United States Vice President and climate change activist Al Gore has also weighed into the debate.
Mr Gore says politicians around the world are under pressure from corporations to deny climate change.
He's told the ABC it's a similar situation in the United States.
"It reminds me of politicians here in the United States who got a lot of support from the tobacco companies and who argued to the public that there was absolutely no connection between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer. And for 40 years the tobacco companies were able to persuade pliant politicians within their grip to tell the public what they wanted them to tell them. And for 40 years the tragedy continued. And bushfires can occur naturally, and do, but the science shows clearly that when the temperature goes up and when the vegetation and soils dry out, then wildfires become more pervasive and more dangerous. That's not me saying it, that's what the scientific community says."
Opposition frontbencher Penny Wong has told Sky News, with bushfires still posing a threat to communities across New South Wales, it is not appropriate to have a political debate about climate change.
"I agree with (NSW Premier) Barry O'Farrell and he said, I think earlier this week, that the science does show a link between heatwaves or hot weather and climate change and we should have in a more sober environment, a proper discussion about that.
However, Australian Greens leader Christine Milne disagrees.
"I raise the issue of extreme weather events and the need for Australia to be prepared for them every day. I don't just wait for an extreme weather event. You might remember with Cyclone Yasi I had been saying for some time, you will see with warming waters off Australia, you'll see more intensity in cyclones... saying 'Let's not talk about it, let's just leave it' means you're prepared to condemn other communities to the same thing and that's not leadership."
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