Can do Campbell

Campbell Newman is my favourite premier in the country right now. I don’t think Graham Readfern shares this view, however.

But as well as being “in the coal business”, it appears Mr Newman  and his  environment minister Andrew Powell are taking their first steps into the   business of climate science denial.

Mr Powell repeated a statement he had made to ABC’s Radio National that  he  was not convinced that humans were having an impact on climate change, a   position which immediately puts him at odds with every national scientific   academy in the world, the advice from his own chief scientist and the position   of the CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and the United Nations.

Ah, yes. shut them down with the authoritative intimidation. Bully them into submission by dropping the most prestigious-sounding names you can muster. Climate Depot tackles this warmist propaganda line:

Only two dozen or so governing board members of the academies of sciences votes on bland UN IPCC like statements. The governing boards are steeped in funding and the state sponsored science of the day. The full membership, ie., the rank and file scientists, do not get to vote on this statement and in many cases are completely unaware any such warmist statement has been released to the public by the governing board.

Readfern continues:

Mr Newman, decided his minister’s view on climate change was “refreshing”…Mr Powell said his views were “fairly  consistent  across a certain percentage of the population” as if this was a valid excuse.

If it is inexcusable for skeptics to go with the flow amongst layman (ignoring of course the scientists that back us up), why then is it acceptable for Readfern to try the peer pressure card. The only difference is that the names he invokes sound cooler. Readfern’s bullying tactics are further bolstered by his repeated use of the “denier” slur.

Fortunately in this case, the general public are not the ones studying the complex nature of positive feedbacks in the climate system…

Neither are most scientists. Most researchers concern themselves with the effects of the positive feedback, working under the assumption that they are significant. In the meantime, empirical evidence is suggesting negative feedback.

…or taking meticulous  observations of global temperatures to find we’ve just had  the warmest decade  since records began…

Pointing out that we are now in the warmest phase of the past 150 or so years and suggesting this is unusual is nothing but cherry-picking.

…as levels of heat in the atmosphere and oceans continues to  climb.

If by climb, he means remain flat, then yeah. Damn those dastardly deniers.

The Queensland government’s own Office of Climate Change, which Mr  Newman is in  the process of closing…

Can I just say again that I think Campbell Newman has been great?

A half-metre rise in sea level would likely increase the chances of extreme  events such  as flooding from occuring once every 100 years to several times a  year. As a  former mayor of Brisbane, which experienced devastating floods a  little over a  year ago, you might think the Premier may have taken some  interest.

Is he implying that questioning the doom-mongers equates to indifference over the Queensland floods?