Letter From Australia (About a Horrible Man)

A Scientific Delusion

The Commentariat in Australia is all in a tizz wazz because a prominent someone has dared to call a spade what it really is.  One often finds Australians a bit mealy mouthed.  One is never quite sure what they mean with all the hemming and hawing and hedging and qualifications.  But not this time.

A correspondent in the Sydney Morning Herald, a bastion of Commentariat orthodoxy, has recorded the shock at the outrageous statements made by a leading Australian businessman.  Since the culprit also happens to be a business adviser to the Prime Minister, that perfectly awful Tony Abbott, the paper reports that the opposition Labor party and Fairfax media have rushed off to the Prime Minister's office with a "do you still stand by . . . . " question of the PM.  To date, no response has been forthcoming.  Probably a case of not wanting to dignify idiocy by an answer. 

Tony Abbott's business adviser says Australia taken 'hostage' by 'climate change madness'


December 31, 2013 - 10:49AM
Jonathan Swan
National political reporter

Tony Abbott's top business adviser says Australia's manufacturing sector and overall competitiveness have been destroyed by climate change policies driven by "scientific delusion". 

The scientific delusion, the religion behind the climate crusade, is crumbling 

In an opinion piece in The Australian newspaper, the Prime Minister's pick as head of his Business Advisory Council, Maurice Newman, wrote high energy costs caused by the carbon tax and the renewable energy target, introduced under the Howard government, had eroded Australia's competitiveness.  Under Labor and the Greens, Australia had been taken "hostage" by "climate change madness".

"Climate change madness...has been a major factor in the decimation of our manufacturing industry," he said.  "It is the unprecedented cost of energy, driven by the Renewable Energy Target and carbon tax, which, at the margin, has destroyed our competitiveness."

Mr Newman added that he believed the green economy was killing Australian jobs.  "For all the propaganda about green employment, Australia seems to be living the European experience, where, for every green job created, two to three jobs are lost in the real economy," Mr Newman said.  "The scientific delusion, the religion behind the climate crusade, is crumbling."  Mr Newman wrote he believed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change resorted to "dishonesty and deceit" and were "intent on exploiting the masses and extracting more money".

Labor has called on the Prime Minister to ask Mr Newman to withdraw his comments "which damage Australia's relationships with its trading partners".

"These extraordinary comments from one of Tony Abbott's closest advisers prove the Coalition is not serious about taking action on climate change and does not accept the overwhelming evidence of a changing climate," the Opposition's acting environment spokesman Shayne Neumann said.  "The worst part about Mr Newman's ignorant comments is that he's only voicing what we know Tony Abbott thinks about climate change.''  Fairfax Media has contacted the Prime Minister's office for a response to Mr Newman's comments.