The bushfire culture war presents a huge challenge for leaders in marginal seats

If the last fortnight has taught us nothing else, it’s that Scott Morrison heads a government that is acutely conscious of the sensitivity of marginal seats.

So it presumably hasn’t escaped his notice that a number of such seats have been at the centre of another issue bedevilling the government — the ongoing bushfire crisis.

For the most part, bushfires are associated with the country, which is in turn associated with conservative politics. This is a fact reflected in the hard climate skepticism of a number of those who represent the most heavily impacted areas.

Much of Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s electorate of Hume has been blackened by the Green Wattle Creek bushfire, which blazed for two months.