Australians rightly mock this platitude when it's rolled out by politicians after a mass shooting in the US, but now our own Prime Minister saw fit to present this meaningless line for victims of the bushfires on the mainland.

And the similarities don't end there.

Like how the US does nothing to end their deadly problem, our government also appears determined to cover its ears to the stark reality now facing us: Australia is drier than ever, hotter than ever, and less prepared than ever.

This is no fault of our fire services. In fact, it appears to be in spite of our fire services. Former NSW fires chief Greg Mullins and 22 other former emergency chiefs were refused an urgent meeting with the PM multiple times this year, and NSW frontline firefighting has been slashed in the eternal quest for a surplus.

In Tasmania, the TFS is well aware of the risks. In Launceston this year, their State Conference was titled "Not the Norm": because the changing climate is putting humanity in a completely unpredictable position where every year is worse than the last. There is no "norm" anymore - as evidenced by the last fire season.

In other news:

Did we learn anything from that fire season? It waits to be seen, but a failure to enact all recommendations from a review into those fires would be reckless.

Yet while Australia faces unprecedented fires (and this is not the only "unprecedented" weather event of recent times, with floods, drought and ocean heatwaves increasing in severity year on year), politicians continue to mislead on carbon emissions, or use rubbery accounting tricks to meet our emissions targets.

And for what benefit? Even after the carbon price was removed, power prices continue to rise, manufacturing jobs continue to be lost, cost-of-living pressures are worse than ever.

As Launceston teenager Chloe McCann sets off for climate change talks in Madrid to address the problems created by other generations, we must offer the youth more than just "thoughts and prayers".