Mr Abbott has pledged to abolish the Climate Commission - the federal government's agency for explaining climate science to the public - if elected, along with repealing the carbon price.

''When the carbon tax goes, all of those bureaucracies will go and I suspect we might find that the particular position you refer to goes with them,'' Mr Abbott told Macquarie Radio on Wednesday.

''It does sound like an unnecessary position given that the gentleman in question gives us the benefit of his views without needing taxpayer funding.''

Professor Flannery said in a statement that it was critical for emergency and health services, as well as the public, to have the best information from scientists.

''Ignoring it or shooting the messenger will not reduce the threat of climate change, it will just mean that Australia is less prepared,'' he said. ''We'd be living in the past to think that Australia did not need to prepare for a changing climate.''

Professor Flannery, a palaeontologist and author who was Australian of the Year in 2007, has been seen as a polarising figure by some because of his calls to phase out large-scale use of fossil fuels.

A Climate Commission report released on Wednesday examined links between Australia's extreme weather and human-induced climate change. It found natural events were being influenced by climate change, because greenhouse gases are accumulating and trapping extra energy in the Earth's atmosphere and oceans.

The extra energy meant that natural events were being given an extra kick, meaning heavier bursts of rainfall, more intense heatwaves, and more prolonged dry spells. While heatwaves are not uncommon in summer, eight of Australia's 21 hottest days on record have occurred this year.

The report's lead author, Professor Will Steffen, said the report relies upon the known physics of the climate system, empirical observations of past and present weather, and the variety of mathematical models that can test assumptions from different angles.

''We have seen this basic shift in the climate system, where natural events are amplified because there is more energy in the system,'' he said. ''The different lines of evidence all point to this conclusion.''