A haze of smoke has made the skies over Bondi Beach look more like those in New Delhi. The death toll has risen. Bushfires have raged across Australia amid a heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring to record levels more common in the Middle East. The scale of the country’s wildfire emergency has few precedents. But it has been exacerbated by a regrettable lack of leadership from the prime minister, Scott Morrison. Beyond Australia’s shores, his government stands as a reproach to any leaders tempted to follow its lamentable response to the deepening threat of climate change.
烟雾笼罩下，邦迪海滩(Bondi Beach)上空看上去更像新德里的天空。死亡人数在上升。林火在澳大利亚全国各地肆虐，一场热浪使气温飙升至创纪录水平；这样的高温本来在中东更为常见。这次的林火紧急情况的规模在澳大利亚鲜有先例。但总理斯科特•莫里森(Scott Morrison)令人遗憾的领导不力使情况更加严重。面对不断加剧的气候变化威胁，他领导的政府做出可悲的回应，在澳大利亚以外，他的政府必定会给任何试图效仿这种做法的领导人带来耻辱。