On my farm near Crookwell, NSW I'm already seeing hotter summers, including longer periods of drought with intense rainfall events in the interim.
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It's only been about 18 months since we were immersed in clouds of smoke from the bushfires that enveloped eastern Australia.
It hasn't stopped raining since, and we've had the wettest two years since the 1960s.
The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report confirmed that weather systems are becoming more extreme and more intense.
Farmers across Australia are on the frontline of climate change, grappling with fires, floods, droughts in fast growing succession. The cost of these events continues to mount.
The federal government has an incredible opportunity to harness the future that strong climate policy presents; to slow climate change and build the economic, social and physical resilience of our communities.
Recently, I've heard politicians calling for a plan.
The government can develop such a plan, supported by experts across the nation who stand at the ready to pitch in.
A comprehensive, fully costed plan for rapidly achieving net-zero emissions, and which also considers the cost of inaction. This is essential if we are to realise the benefits the clean energy transition presents.
When we have natural disasters, we're great at pulling together and helping each other out.
As a nation we must come together around this critical issue.
We must restore our landscapes and renew our regions, reducing emissions and revitalising our communities around investment in new clean energy technologies to replace fossil fuels.
If we do this we will see economic benefits flow to communities across the country, urban and rural, mining and farming alike.
When the prime minister talks about the COVID-19 pandemic he talks about Team Australia.
He should be using the same language about climate policy.
We urgently need a Team Australia moment for responding to climate change.
We've had enough of the miners vs farmers, regionals vs city dwellers, us vs them language!
Farmers are ready to address this challenge. We are already reducing our emissions, adapting to and mitigating climate change on a daily basis.
The IPCC report provides a perfect starting point for a national plan to address climate change.
Politicians from every party need to listen to the scientists and develop it.
Our international allies are already doing this. Let's put the fear aside and get on with it.
Charlie Prell is a Crookwell sheep farmer and chairman of Farmers for Climate Action.
