Mr. Prime Minister, Your Country Is Burning

Large tracts of the Australian continent are ablaze. Beyond the toll in lives and property, the most remarkable thing about this bushfire season is that people can see it, taste it and feel it.

While fires have long been a product of the country’s hot, dry climate, they remained a remote idea for most Australians — something you caught for a few minutes on the evening news. Now more than 20 people have died and scores are missing. Areas larger than Denmark have been razed. As recently as last week, temperature warnings for parts of Sydney climbed to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Farenheit). When haze blanketed the city in early December, our Bloomberg Opinion colleague David Fickling wrote of sleepless nights and bronchial coughs, amazed at the apathy of the political class.