Senator Jim Molan has drawn heckles and facepalms after his appearance on ABC’s last night, which saw him claim his mind remained ‘open’ on whether climate change was ‘human-induced’.

The Liberal MP was asked about his views on what caused the severity of the bushfires that have hit Australia over the past few months.

The retired Army Major General was flanked by climate scientist Michael Mann, NSW MP Andrew Constance, Bega Valley Shire Mayor Kristy McBain, Indigenous specialist in traditional knowledge and fire management Victor Steffensen and Surf Life Saving NSW Far South Coast director Cheryl McCarthy.

They were all asked about the devastating scenes that have played out over the summer and whether this is the new normal.

Mr Molan was particularly quizzed because he sits at the federal level of the Liberal party and many want to know what the party line is on whether climate change is to blame for the fires.

“I accept the climate is changing,” he told the crowd. “It has changed and it will change. What it’s producing is hotter and drier weather and a hotter and drier country.

“As to whether it is human-induced climate change, my mind is open.”

When asked why he was open to other suggestions about climate change causes, he replied with: “Michael [Mann] might say that the science is settled.

“The one thing that I agree with Michael is that climate change and our policies in relation to climate change are designed to mitigate the risk. It’s very difficult to mitigate the risk.

“You can go back and look for the last 100 years [at] how or why it started. If we can’t mitigate risk, then we’ve got to adapt. And that’s the key to what they’re doing. We are adapting.”

“I respect very much scientific opinion but every day across my desk comes enough information for me to say that there are other opinions.”

The programme’s host Hamish Macdonald pushed him to specify what sort of ‘information’ could make him question the overwhelming evidence suggesting climate change is, at least in part, due to human influences.

Senator Molan replied: “I’m not relying on evidence, Hamish.”

Unsurprisingly, that drew loads of heckling purely because a Liberal MP admitted that he’s using unsubstantiated ‘information’ to dictate his view on climate change.

Climate scientist Michael Mann replied to the statement with: “Come on now, mate. You should keep an open mind but not so open that your brain falls out.”

People on social media criticised him for this view, including other politicians, with one person calling the questioning a ‘car crash that turned into a train wreck’.