It is clear proof, after weeks of denial, key figures in the government have got the message this issue resonates with a wide range of voters.

It is not, as Michael McCormack now probably wishes he hadn't said, the exclusive preserve of "pure, enlightened and woke capital-city greenies".

The National Party leader was not the only LNP member left with egg on their face in the wake of the PM's public acknowledgement of the link between climate change and the extended bushfire season.

The MPs lining up to take a swing at NSW environment minister Matt Kean for saying "longer, drier periods" had resulted in "more drought and bushfire" should be feeling foolish as well.

The Prime Minister's change in position, which will have cost the government some political capital, is based on a pragmatic acceptance this is the big issue with voters right across the country and if he doesn't make an effort to manage the narrative the Coalition will pay a heavy price down the track.

When the smoke haze over Sydney reaches the point where you can't see from the Opera House to the Harbour Bridge and ferry services are being cancelled, it is a reality too big to either ignore or to run away from.

That said, the PM's attempt to persuade voters he had acknowledged the impact of climate change on the extended fire season "all year" needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

His previous messaging in this space has been almost exclusively "this is not the time to be talking about climate change" on the basis that to do so detracted from the efforts of the firefighters and overshadowed the suffering of those who had lost homes, friends and family.

Mr Kean, who probably won't be having Christmas drinks with Matt Canavan any time soon after the Federal Resources Minister suggested he was at least partly personally responsible for the current crisis, may have been the canary in Mr Morrison's personal coal mine.

"This is not normal... doing nothing is not a solution," he said on Wednesday, the same day thousands of people, many wearing face masks, rallied outside Sydney's Town Hall asking the government to act on the role of global warming in extending the fire season.

"We need to reduce our carbon emissions immediately, and we need to adapt our practices to deal with this kind of weather becoming the new normal".

While Mr Morrison stopped short of matching this rhetoric he did plead for the nation to "come together".

"It is important to have a sense of calm about these matters... calm on the basis of information which says Australia is reducing emissions. Australia is taking action, Australia is a getting results," he said.

While that claim is correct the PM is on much thinner ice he attempts to claim the credit for any progress that has been made for his government and his party.

That belongs to state and territory governments, including NSW, the ACT and South Australia which have launched their own initiatives and the dedicated Federal public servants who have delivered measurable results off the back of a decade of policy confusion and political ineptitude.

While the clean hydrogen push is an example of this, there is so much more to do.

An excellent first step would be to reconfigure the power grid in order to support more wind and solar powered generators in regional areas where land is cheap and sunshine and windy days are plentiful.