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“I often wonder: where did I go wrong?” [Australian researcher] Graeme Pearman says. “Why didn’t people respond? Is that my responsibility?”

When Guardian Australia meets him at his home on the outskirts of Melbourne, the veteran climate scientist is frustrated.

“If you go through the whole process and the rigour of conducting science, [you think] at the end of the day surely people will understand what you’re saying – they will incorporate those risks into what they do,” he says.

“Well, it doesn’t work that way.

“The reality is that for a period of nearly two decades, Australia went backwards [on climate action]. From a personal perspective, yes, it’s frustrating.”

Precursor: If I was feeling hopeless about the climate, what of the scientists? So I asked them

"What I'm asking for are five things that ... are all possible with the technology we have," he told ABC Radio Canberra.

"It's not as hard as going to the moon."

Those demands are for Australia to stop subsidising fossil fuels; for coal and gas exports to be phased out "as soon as possible"; for the logging of native forests to cease; for the prime minister to release the findings from the National Security Climate Risk Assessment report; and for Australia's Environment Protection Biodiversity Act to be amended to include climate impacts.

Mr Andrews said it was time the Australian government began "taking responsibility".

"Australia is the third-largest fossil fuel exporter in the world," he said.

"When I think about what that means for my children, and all of Australia and all of the world's children, it's quite unbearable.

"So that's why I'm doing it."

The Albanese government is about to have to make a really important decision.

It’s going to have to decide what’s more important: supporting Australians who are financially under water, or keeping an election promise.

And it’ll have to do it soon. It’s already working on its May budget, now just six months away.

That choice will affect almost every Australian, and it could shape whether you’re thousands of dollars a year better off – or not – from July next year.

[...] When asked in an Australia Institute survey what was more important – keeping a promise or reacting to changing economic circumstances – 61% picked reacting to changing circumstances.

Even among Coalition voters, 56% supported reacting to changing circumstances.

It puts the Stage 3 tax cuts in play. There’s still time, and plenty of electoral and economic reasons to rejig them.

While Australian media coverage focused on the historic nature of [Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's four-day visit to China], as well as the importance from a trade perspective, what mattered most to China? And how was the visit covered by the media there?

A national Newspoll, conducted October 30 to November 3 from a sample of 1,220 people, gave Labor a 52–48% lead over the Coalition, a two-point gain for the Coalition since the final Newspoll before the October 14 Voice referendum. This is Labor’s narrowest lead in Newspoll since the 2022 federal election.

The historical Newspoll results may be helpful to better contextualize the most recent results.

• A study shows Australians would rather take other actions to help the environment than give up meat.

• Participants cite a lack of vegetarian options when dining out, despite Australia having more than ever, as a barrier to the diet.

• Researchers hope the study will highlight reasons behind people's reluctance to reduce meat consumption.

• Mehreen Faruqi said the Greens would continue to pressure the government to call for an Israel-Gaza ceasefire

• It comes after Australia abstained from the UN vote for a humanitarian truce

• Acting government Senate leader Don Farell accused the Greens of "making hay" of the "difficult situation"

"We say to any prospective whistleblowers, do not be a whistleblower under the Albanese government until it starts protecting whistleblowers, instead of prosecuting them."