Morrison responds to fears over bushfires but rejects censure of climate policy

Scott Morrison has moved to reassure voters he understands the bushfires are a natural emergency and he accepts the link between climate change and an extended fire season, while dismissing international censure of his government’s climate policies as “not credible”.

After a substantial protest in Sydney on Wednesday and weeks of criticism over his hands-off response to the catastrophic fire emergency, Morrison said he had acknowledged “all year” the impact of climate change on Australia’s bushfire season.

But he continued to defend the government’s climate policy as being adequate and pleaded for the nation to “come together”.

“We will continue to work to reduce our emissions, as we should,” he said from Melbourne on Thursday.

Related: 'Doing nothing is not a solution': Matt Kean blames climate crisis for bushfires

“But what we cannot say, what no one can say, is those programs, of themselves, are in any way directly linked to any fire event. I know – because I’m a Sydneysider – and I know how unusual it is to see that haze across my city.

“And I know how distressing that has been, particularly for young people, who wouldn’t have seen that before.

“And so that is why I think it is important to have a sense of calm about these matters, and calm on the basis of information which says Australia is reducing our emissions, Australia is taking action, Australia is getting results. And it’s important that [at] a time like this of natural disasters, that Australians focus on coming together and not seeking to drive issues of conflict and issues that can separate Australians at a time when we all need each other.”

Australia has been criticised on the international stage for its emissions reduction policies, with a group of thinktanks ranking the nation the worst-performing country on climate change from a newly created list of 57. The re-elected Morrison government was singled out as a “regressive force” on the issue.

The prime minister “completely rejected” the report, saying he did not believe it to be “credible”.

Morrison spoke just hours after the emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, avoided speaking on Australia’s controversial plan to double-count Kyoto emissions reductions credits in its Paris reduction total, while attending a global climate summit in Madrid.

The move has been challenged as being against the spirit of the latest global climate agreement, and one in which Australia stands alone.

Morrison said Australia’s stance on the issue had been “mischaracterised” and was about trading credits with other nations.

Related: Former fire and emergency chiefs push for national bushfire emergency summit

“Australia is in the enviable position, unlike most countries, where we actually have exceeded on our targets,” he said.

The most recent emissions projections show Australia was on track to meet its 2030 target (a 26% reduction from 2005 levels) but only if it used carryover credits. Without the Kyoto credits, Australia will only reach a 16% cut.

Thousands of Sydneysiders rallied outside the city’s town hall on Wednesday to protest climate inaction in the midst of one of the worst air-quality crises to engulf Australia’s most famous city.

Earlier in the week, Morrison had been criticised for holding a press conference on the religious discrimination bill on a day the smoke haze was so bad in Sydney it rendered its harbour all but invisible. On Thursday, Morrison said he had remembered seeing hazes surround Sydney as a child.

“I do remember hazes from the past. I do remember Sydney being ringed by fire in my lifetime,” he said.

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“I remember as a young fella being down at the beach and being all around as I looked out from the surf across the sand. I’ve seen it before. Maybe not quite the haze that I saw on Sydney harbour but we’ve seen terrible fires. I remember when I was kid, the Blue Mountains, the big fire back in the late ’70s … and those fires were horrific, absolutely horrific.”

Six people have died and more than 700 homes have been lost in fires that have burned through more than 2m hectares of land so far. Fire authorities have warned east-coast residents to prepare for more to come, with the traditional worst weeks of the fire season still ahead. Morrison said preparations were being made.

“As always, Australians must band together and we must focus on the effort that needs to be put in on the ground now, and that has my absolute focus and the focus of all the premiers leading states, that lead the response,” he said.

“… And we’ll work closely together. That’s [the] assurance I’m seeking to provide Australians.

“I know it is upsetting. I know it is concerning, and particularly when you’re living in a city which has a haze that some may never have seen before.

“But I want them to be assured the country is working together. Australia’s amazing volunteer resource is being drawn on, and heavily, but it is always overcome.

“Australians are overcomers and we’re unifiers.”