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In an interview with Hack, the world’s most renowned natural historian said previous governments had been “saying all the right things” but this had suddenly changed.

“You are the keepers of an extraordinary section of the surface of this planet, including the Barrier Reef, and what you say, what you do, really, really matters.”

“And then you suddenly say, ‘No it doesn’t matter … it doesn’t matter how much coal we burn … we don’t give a damn what it does to the rest of the world.’”

The veteran conservationist responded to Scott Morrison bringing a lump of coal into Question Time in February 2017, when he was Treasurer.

“I don’t think it was a joke,” he said.

“If you weren’t opening a coal mine okay I would agree, it’s a joke. But you are opening a coal mine.”

He also commented on the recent federal election, which Mr Morrison won with a platform of support for new coal mines, including the proposed large Adani mine in Queensland, as well as a less ambitious emissions reduction target than Labor.

Asked how politicians can carry the public with them on taking action on climate change, he said politicians had “to appeal to what people think is right.”

“Do you think it’s right that we go on destroying the natural world?” he said.

But he also made an economic argument for action: “We have to convince bankers and big business that, in the end, the long-term future lies in having a healthy planet. And unless you do something about it … you’re going to lose your money.”

And one for basic self-preservation: “The world is going to be running short of food, seriously short of food.”

Tens of millions could be exposed to crop failure and famine in the next few decades due to climate change, according to the UN panel for assessing the science of climate change, the IPCC.

On the global climate strike and mass protest

Speaking to Hack ahead of last week’s global climate strike, the 93-year-old threw his support behind young people taking to the streets in protest.

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