Climate contrarian given $4m - 'makes my shoulders droop'

-      Robert McLean

N

ews such as this makes my shoulders droop.

Climate contrarian Bjørn Lomborg has been given $4m by the Abbot government to establish his “consensus centre” at an Australian university.

This contradictory move comes at a time when Abbott and coalition cohorts are struggling to impose deep spending cuts on the higher education sector.

The scientific and morally discredited Lomborg is to chair of body which will set up the “Australia Consensus Centre”, modelled on the Copenhagen Consensus Center methodology, at a new centre in the University of WesternAustralia’s business school.

A spokesman said the “Australia Consensus Centre” was a proposal put forward by the “university and Dr Lomborg’s organisation”.

A story in The Guardian - “Abbott government gives $4m to help climate contrarian set up Australian centre” – said, “Sources have told Guardian Australia the establishment of the centre had come as a surprise even to senior staff in the business school, who were unaware that the centre was being established until shortly before it was announced this month.”

Meanwhile, Climate Council chief, Tim Flannery, wrote to the council’s supporters saying:

“The Australian Government today announced they would contribute $4m for Danish climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg to establish a new “consensus centre” at the University of Western Australia.

In the face of deep cuts to the CSIRO and other scientific research organisations, it's an insult to Australia’s scientific community.

As the Climate Commission, we were abolished by the Abbott Government in 2013 on the basis that our $1.5 million annual operating costs were too expensive. We relaunched as the Climate Council after thousands of Australians chipped in to the nation’s biggest crowd-funding campaign - remember this video?

It seems extraordinary that the Climate Commission, which was composed of Australia’s best climate scientists, economists and energy experts, was abolished on the basis of a lack of funding and yet here we are three years later and the money has become available to import a politically-motivated think tank to work in the same space.

This is why the work of the Climate Council is so important - to counter this continuing ideological attempt at deceiving the Australian public.

Please consider chipping in a few dollars a week to help us stay independent and continue to fight the rising tide of misinformation.

Mr Lomborg’s views have no credibility in the scientific community. His message hasn’t varied at all in the last decade and he still believes we shouldn't take any steps to mitigate climate change. When someone is unwilling to adapt their view on the basis of new science or information, it's usually a sign those views are politically motivated.

But with your support we will continue to fight back and reach millions of Australians with information that is based on the best science available. “