A wet Australian summer predicted.

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You have heard of our cafe latte set?

Nope, I drink my coffee black.
Is that some local Australian code for something?

But I'd still trust Flannery over less knowledgable folk - because he was clearly thinking about long term trends rather than individual La Nina events.

I'd like to see the full transcript of what Flannery was saying, it looks like he's been quoted out of context.
He knows a lot more about climate science than Alan Jones, that's for sure.

Found this interview from 2019 on the ABC, which puts Flannery's comments into better context:

Tim Flannery, how likely are Australian capital cities to end up living permanently under some form of water restrictions?

TIM FLANNERY, CHIEF COUNCILLOR, CLIMATE COUNCIL: Well, look, it depends upon how water is managed.

At the moment what we're seeing is a widespread use of desalination to provide water but that's expensive.

So, you know, Perth gets about half of its water from desal. Adelaide gets up half of its water at various times from desal. Melbourne gets water and we're just about to turn the taps on in the desal plant in Sydney. That will add about $25 to $30 a year cost to water for the average consumer but I guess that's the cost of using it prolifically.

LEIGH SALES: As you mention, Perth and Adelaide are getting about half of their water from desalination plants. Other than the expense, have there have been any lessons learned from that?

TIM FLANNERY: Look, yeah, it is obviously expensive. There can be environmental consequences.

So Perth has had to turn off its desal plant occasionally as very salty water has pooled on the coast, causing environmental problems.

So yeah, there are consequences. I think you're much better off managing your water properly, looking after your climate so you don't have to bear these costs.

LEIGH SALES: How much progress has Australia made into other water efficiency measures?

TIM FLANNERY: Look, by and large, I think we're still fairly poor at managing our water.

The big impacts are going to be in the inland, in our agriculture regions because out there, you can't really utilise desal the way we can on the coast and also, hotter temperatures are making things much more difficult.

So, you know, last summer was the hottest summer on record for Australia, and we also had the third most severe drought, which we're still experiencing. So add those two together and you get a lot of demand, you get a lot of stress on water.

LEIGH SALES: You mentioned high temperatures. Given the pressures of climate change, how likely is it that Australia's dams will ever return to full capacity?

TIM FLANNERY: Well, you know, we have to see. There may be an odd weather event that brings them up to 100 per cent again but by and large, the trend has been for greater evaporation, so less water actually getting into the dams, and less rainfall in southern and eastern Australia.

So those factors together tell us we should manage carefully what we've got.

LEIGH SALES: What are some of the low hanging fruit in terms of better water management in Australia? What could we do fairly easily?

TIM FLANNERY: Well, Brisbane really has led the way in times past in this and what they've done is issued people with their water bills, and in a way that gives them a comparison with their neighbours.

And in that sense, you see how much you're using relative to people around you and I think that spurs on action.

The other thing that Brisbane has done is build a fantastic water recycling plant, again, a common-sense thing to do but last time I looked, that hadn't been utilised because people weren't comfortable with drinking recycled water - slightly crazy given if you visit London, that's what you're drinking.

Thanks for the transcript, Brictoria!

Yeah, if you take a soundbite of that sentence it seems like Flannery's exaggerating.
But I'd still trust Flannery over less knowledgable folk - because he was clearly thinking about long term trends rather than individual La Nina events.

To say that Australia has no issues with drought and water shortages just because we're expecting a lot of rain this year is worse than exaggeration - it's just plain wrong.

By "less knowledgable folk" do you mean this guy?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51080567

Nope, I drink my coffee black.
Is that some local Australian code for something?

To be fair Tim is an palaeontologist who is technically no more qualified than Greta Thunberg or Peter Garrett to debate climate change. He was been appointed chief commissioner of the Australian climate council due to his public profile rather than his expertise.

Irrelevant information.
Yes, Morrison stuffed up with the bushfires, but that has nothing to do with this discussion.
A picture would have sufficed.

Misleading evidence, me lord.

Anyone who lives in the atmosphere is qualified to debate climate change, why feign political moderation when you're discussing the planet living or dying?

It's called citizen's science.

Anyone is qualified except Tim Flannery was appointed the chief commissioner. I have a slight bone to pick with him over his book "Future Eaters" where he claimed the indigenous Australians were responsible for the mass extinction of most mammals in Australia such as megafauna. I thought attributing blame seemed odd, never liked the fellow much.

The jibe is about “latte-sipping", "greenie", inner-city dwellers out of touch with farmers.

My view is that they are referring to over-educated, experience-anemic far-leftist ivory-tower-living greenies.

I have a slight bone to pick with him over his book "Future Eaters" where he claimed the indigenous Australians were responsible for the mass extinction of most mammals in Australia such as megafauna. I thought attributing blame seemed odd, never liked the fellow much.

Erm,
Sometimes I can be a little thick.
How does Brictoria's transcript support your position?