Australia's successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic, both in a health and economic sense, has been lauded around the world. For many, it's a sign of how vital a strong public health system is, or the importance of listening to expert figures in the bureaucracy.
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What Australia's pandemic response does prove, is that if the federal government wants something badly enough, it will do everything necessary to make it happen, even make decisions and implement policies previously thought inconceivable.
The same cannot be said, of course, for action on climate change, where Australia is far from a leader, but a laggard, a nation that has not earned a seat at the table with others who are taking the challenge seriously.
The message from the United Nations organisers was clear: doing the bare minimum won't cut it from now on.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was snubbed from speaking at the United Nations climate change summit on the weekend because the announcement he intended to bring to the table was not ambitious enough.
Instead, Mr Morrison used an address to the Pacific Islands Forum to announce Australia would reach its Paris Agreements commitments without using controversial carryover credits from the Kyoto Protocol.
The message from the United Nations organisers was clear: doing the bare minimum won't cut it from now on.
Asked about the lack of invitation in the House of Representatives last week, Mr Morrison brushed it off, playing down the importance of the summit.
"Australia's climate and energy policy will be set here in Australia, in Australia's national interest, not to get a speaking slot at some international summit," Mr Morrison said on Thursday.
"The only approval I seek for the policies of my government is the Australian people. That's it. The only people I answer to in this place is the Australian people."
The day after touting an Australia-first view, Mr Morrison told the Pacific Islands Forum "emissions don't have accents, they don't have nationalities" and the cumulative effect of climate change will be felt by all.
It continues a pattern of the Liberal-National government trying to have it both ways when it comes to climate change. Claiming to take it seriously with endless announcements of strategies and roadmaps, but no tangible policies that will truly put a dent in Australia's emissions.
The embarrassment at the United Nations summit on the weekend showed the government is out of step both internationally and within conservative ranks. It was British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, by no stretch a radical greenie, who was pushing Australia to be more ambitious in its announcement.
While Labor has had internal squabbles over climate change policy and targets, and the pandemic has dominated political debates, both sides of politics have avoided having a real debate on what action must be taken.
That debate must be had, and a path must be chosen and maintained.
Australian businesses and households are relying on the government to set a clear goal and give them clear parameters to make their decisions and plan their paths with a sense of certainty.
Most importantly, the world's precious and fragile environment needs the government to step up and make ambitious decisions and follow through.
It's time to do more on climate change.
Because after the pandemic we now know, if the government wants something badly enough, the debt, the deficit, ideology, backbenchers, they are no barrier to getting it done and leading on the world stage.