Black skies over Blacktown

I went out today on a mission to explore the suburb of Blacktown. I'm sure there was lots there to report on - a very large shopping centre and a very colourful melting pot population spring to mind initially - but my attention was hijacked by the dramatic sky and the bushfires raging to the west.

We're only a few days out of winter, but already the temperatures are in the 30s, there's been no real rain for two months, and a hot wind from the north west has resulted in several nasty bushfires on Sydney's western edges. Homes have been destroyed, firefighters injured, schools evacuated, all the usual.

Three days ago my fellow Australians voted in a new Government, led by Tony "Climate Change is Crap" Abbott. He's going to scrap the price on carbon pollution, and concentrate on the important things like chopping down and digging up, boosting the coal industry, and generally doing business as normal but more so.

So we ain't seen nothing yet.