DHAKA: Australian prime minister Tony Abbott denied on Wednesday that devastating bushfires in Australia were linked to climate change, accusing the United Nations climate chief of ‘talking through her hat’ on the issue.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said on Tuesday that while the latest fires raging west of Sydney could not yet be linked to global warming, there was ‘absolutely’ a connection between wildfires and rising temperatures, The Straits Times publishes this report on Wednesday.

‘The official in question is talking through her hat,’ Abbott told radio station 3AW.

‘Climate change is real, as I’ve often said, and we should take strong action against it.’

BDST: 1609 HRS, OCT 23, 2013
RoR/SRS