Sometimes, federal elections in Australia have felt like potential watersheds, as Labor and the Coalition paint two very different visions of the nation. Days out from the weekend poll, however, not enough separates the major parties on a host of issues that will define Australia’s future – none of them bigger than climate change.

Labor’s suite of climate policies goes notably further than the Morrison government’s. But neither party’s ambition on emissions reduction is consistent with what scientists say is needed to avert disastrous global warming. And both parties have their heads firmly in the sand when it comes to the inevitable demise of coal.

As the Australian National University’s Frank Jotzo writes today, the next government must deal with climate policy, whether it likes it or not. He urges our 47th parliament to hit the reset button on the issue, and clearly articulates the very long to-do list. The challenges before us, he says, are too difficult and important for political point-scoring or ideological zealotry.

And nor can adapting to climate change be the plaything of politics, Johanna Nalau reminds us. To withstand the droughts, floods, bushfires and heatwaves to come, she says, Australia needs a robust bipartisan strategy.

For this reason and so many others, this election has been described in some quarters as the most important in Australia’s history. As climate scientist and author Joelle Gergis writes, the rest of the world is watching to see whether we rise to the challenge.

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