5 years ago
WATER MINISTER DOESN’T KNOW IF CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL
TERRI BUTLER MP
In a startling admission, the Morrison Government’s Water Minister, Mr Littleproud has confirmed he doesn’t know whether human induced climate change is real.
Appearing on Sky’s Speers program yesterday, the Minister was asked:
Speers: Sorry, just to be clear on this, you’re not sure whether man-made climate change is real?
Littleproud: No, I’m not.
The Bureau of Meteorology, the CSIRO, the Australian Academy of Science, the Department of Defence, the RBA, 99 per cent of global peer reviewed climate research, every Academy of Science in the world, the UN, NASA, the insurance and corporate sector, all agree about the reality of human induced climate change.
But the Morrison Government’s Water Minister remains unconvinced.
This ideologically driven ignorance is especially shocking in light of the clear evidence from agencies like the Bureau of Meteorology, the Murray Darling Basin Authority, and the CSIRO that climate change will and already is having severe impacts on Australia’s water resources.
For example, the CSIRO have previously noted:
“Climate change by 2030 is likely to reduce average river flows by 10 per cent to 25 per cent in some regions of southern Australia but further climate change could produce even more profound reductions of water resources in southern Australia.”
While the Murray Darling Basin Authority has stated:
“Changes in global and regional climate patterns are having significant impacts on the availability of water for both communities and the environment throughout the Murray–Darling Basin.”
Science and evidence based policy is at the heart of addressing these issues, but the Minister in charge doesn’t understand or accept the science.
This level of science denialism is a threat to Australia’s future prosperity.
Minister Littleproud is not only at odds with scientists, government agencies and experts, he is at odds with the vast majority of the Australian community.
Just yesterday the Climate of the Nation report confirmed that 81 per cent of Australians are concerned that climate change will result in more droughts and flooding and 80 per cent of Australians acknowledge we are already experiencing the impacts of climate change.
The Morrison Government is crippled by climate change scepticism, ignorance and denial. No wonder their own data confirm carbon emissions will continue to rise all the way to 2030 under this government’s inaction.
Appearing on Sky’s Speers program yesterday, the Minister was asked:
Speers: Sorry, just to be clear on this, you’re not sure whether man-made climate change is real?
Littleproud: No, I’m not.
The Bureau of Meteorology, the CSIRO, the Australian Academy of Science, the Department of Defence, the RBA, 99 per cent of global peer reviewed climate research, every Academy of Science in the world, the UN, NASA, the insurance and corporate sector, all agree about the reality of human induced climate change.
But the Morrison Government’s Water Minister remains unconvinced.
This ideologically driven ignorance is especially shocking in light of the clear evidence from agencies like the Bureau of Meteorology, the Murray Darling Basin Authority, and the CSIRO that climate change will and already is having severe impacts on Australia’s water resources.
For example, the CSIRO have previously noted:
“Climate change by 2030 is likely to reduce average river flows by 10 per cent to 25 per cent in some regions of southern Australia but further climate change could produce even more profound reductions of water resources in southern Australia.”
While the Murray Darling Basin Authority has stated:
“Changes in global and regional climate patterns are having significant impacts on the availability of water for both communities and the environment throughout the Murray–Darling Basin.”
Science and evidence based policy is at the heart of addressing these issues, but the Minister in charge doesn’t understand or accept the science.
This level of science denialism is a threat to Australia’s future prosperity.
Minister Littleproud is not only at odds with scientists, government agencies and experts, he is at odds with the vast majority of the Australian community.
Just yesterday the Climate of the Nation report confirmed that 81 per cent of Australians are concerned that climate change will result in more droughts and flooding and 80 per cent of Australians acknowledge we are already experiencing the impacts of climate change.
The Morrison Government is crippled by climate change scepticism, ignorance and denial. No wonder their own data confirm carbon emissions will continue to rise all the way to 2030 under this government’s inaction.