INTERVIEW: Former defence chief Chris Barrie talks to SBS about Australia's climate security

A new report by the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group has outlined how the government’s risk and security agenda fails to include climate change, leaving the country and the population vulnerable.

Chris Barrie has joined other former defence chiefs in urging Australia’s political leaders to prioritise a response to growing climate security risks. Source: Supplied / Rohan Thomson

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The co-authors of the report, Too Hot to Handle, include former Australian Defence Force chief Chris Barrie.

He says a continued failure to adequately account for the magnitude of the risks not only jeopardises the nation's future safety - but also puts at risk billions of dollars.

Retired admiral Barrie says a visit to Australia by the former chief of defence of the Netherlands, Tom Middendorp, and his address at the National Press Club on climate security, highlights how Australia is behind other countries when it comes to planning the response to climate security risks - with the goal of safeguarding the future stability of our region and beyond.

Mr Barrie spoke to SBS News' Biwa Kwan for this edition of Weekend One on One.