Breeza farmer says BoM findings point directly to climate change

The findings revealed that Australia had its hottest year on record, 1.52 degrees higher than average. The annual rainfall for NSW was also the lowest on record.

Breeza farmer and member of Farmers for Climate Action John Hamparsum said this, combined with the ongoing drought and the bushfires, were "just all pointing to the predictions made when climate change was starting to be felt".

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"It's confirmed what we already knew: that it was an incredibly hot 2019 and this is a continuing trend that we've had for quite some time now," Mr Hamparsum said.

"We're not getting the springs and the autumns we're used to - we just go directly from winter to summer and summer into winter.

"Some people say it's a cycle, but you look at the evidence and it's happened in a much shorter time compared to history."

He said climate change deniers needed to ask themselves an important question.

"Are they smarter than the 98 per cent of scientists out there that say climate change is real?" he said.

"That kilo of coal that was held up by Scott Morrison, where he said, 'Don't be scared of this' - what does that represent? That kilo represents hectares of rainforests compressed over years into a block of coal.

"Trains go past my property here every 15-20 minutes with coal, so if we're burning that much coal every 15-20 minutes, how many hectares of rainforest is being burnt every 15-20 minutes?"

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Mr Hamparsum said the impact of climate change was hitting farmers in the North West hard, including himself.

"On our own farm, it's been 10 years since we've had above-average rainfall. [The heat] increases the evapotranspiration of our crops, so the crop water use is much higher because the plant is trying to cool itself down," he said.

"The impact that it has is: we need more moisture to increase the crop we used to and that exacerbates the problem."

The farmer said the country's leaders needed to do more to address the ongoing climate issue.

"Both sides of politics, whether it be the Liberals or Labor party, seem to be putting their heads in the sand and the recent behaviour at the climate talks shows there's a lack of leadership," he said.

"They need to understand the science first and accept that climate change is real, that would be the first step.

"Once they get to the point of acceptance rather than denial, leadership should take over. That's what they are elected to do: provide leadership."