The devastation and persistent clouds of toxic smoke hanging over major towns and cities are begging the question, can Australia's way of life go on?

Morrison could be in trouble over the fire crisis. He was forced to return from a family holiday when the Australian media questioned why he was vacationing in Hawaii as so much of the country burned. He took weeks to declare a state of emergency, releasing a highly controversial religious discrimination bill at a news conference instead, while journalists fired tough questions at him over a lack of funding for volunteer firefighters.

Morrison -- once a climate change skeptic who literally sang praises to a lump of coal in the Australian parliament -- should be worried about what people think of him in towns like Cobargo. The constituency has swung between the Liberal party and its center-left Labor rival several times since the 1940s and is one of Australia's most reliable bellwether seats.

Yet this concern doesn't seem to translate at the ballot box. Australia has voted for a conservative Liberal-National coalition government with a poor record on climate change for the last three elections, even reinstating Morrison as leader last May.

Australia's political inaction on climate change can be hard to understand. Famous for its natural beauty, the country suffers annual fires and intense drought. It is regularly smashing heat records, and its rain patterns are becoming less predictable. Its seasons are beginning to look a little back to front -- wildfires began in 2019 at the end of August, during the Australian winter.

Concern for climate change has never been so high in the country. Twenty-one percent of voters said either global warming or the environment were the most important issue affecting their vote. But out of 10 issues, it still comes third after economic management and the country's medical system.

Labor is slowly losing its working-class votes to minor parties and, to a lesser extent, conservative alternatives. Older Australians are more likely to vote for the Liberal party, and Australia's population is aging.

Although wages are starting to stagnate, life has been prosperous in Australia for a long time -- it is the only place on earth that has sustained economic growth for 28 years running.

Beaches look like war zones

Economics aside, Australia's climate and natural beauty makes its cities, like Sydney and Melbourne, some of the most liveable in the world.

But that too is under threat. The beach, barbecues and sports that make up the Australian summer, and arguably part of its identity, have all been affected by the fires.

In Mallacoota, a small town in the southern state of Victoria, the population usually swells from about 1,500 to 8,000 during the Christmas period, as families with holiday homes and tourists swim, surf and sunbathe on the white sand beaches with azure waters.

Better-known beaches, like Bondi in Sydney, have been unswimmable for much of the summer, as the air quality soared to hazardous levels. Many commuters now don face masks like they do in Beijing, which experts say do little to keep toxins out.

Barbecues, another favorite Australian pastime, are banned in many areas, and sporting officials were monitoring the air quality ahead of the ATP Cup tennis tournament and a cricket Test match between Australia and New Zealand in Sydney this week.

If Australians want to retain their quality of life, they must consider climate change policies that not only address fires, but also other pollutants, such as traffic and industry, according to Ilan Kelman from the University College of London's Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction.

"People make the decision to live in a mega-city, whether Sydney or London, and we know these risks come. And if we choose to live there, we should be convincing our politicians, and electing our politicians, who will deal with air quality, as London has done," he said. "Otherwise, they'll have to accept all these life impacts which bad air brings."