Hide those climate plans until after the election

Political lies. Hidden messages.

By Jo Nova

Life on Earth is about to collapse but the government may have to keep their 2035 emissions target a secret until after our next election. Shucks…

The government was supposed to release the “2035 update” by February next year. It was part of the sacred Paris Agreement that they pump up the NetZero promises every five years, which means by February 2025. But when The Australian newspaper asked if the government would keep that deadline, the spokeswoman pointedly did not say “Yes”.

When asked by The Australian if the government would stick to its February deadline, the spokeswoman said: “The Albanese government is working to bring down energy prices and emissions after a decade of delay, dysfunction and denial – but our progress is precarious.

— by Rosie Lewis, The Australian

Australia will, of course, be caught in the wake of the US Election with our election due by May next year. It will be impossible to run on climate piety if Trump wins (beyond the margin of cheating). And the rise of skeptical parties in Europe is surely spooking campaign managers.

Suddenly climate activists don’t want climate on the agenda

In tandem, ‘o-so-conveniently, the chief climate propaganda unit simultaneously announced they might have to delay giving their “frank and fearless advice” until after the election too, proving they are not frank or fearless at all. They’re scared the voters will drive a pike through their climate balloon.

They all know the public won’t vote for the Labor Party if they reveal their extortionate plans. The only way for the blob to get what they want is to hide it. They are just copying “the Team-Kamala Plan”. (Don’t mention the Climate.) In the US, Kamala is saying nothing about the climate, and the Greens fully endorse her silence. The only way to solve that paradox is to assume Kamala plans to deceive the voters, and the Green approve of the deceit.

For the same reasons, The Climate Change Authority (CCA) (the Australian propaganda unit) also realize that if they lay out the path to Net Zero by 2050 before the election, the Prime Minister will be put on the spot, and forced to deny or admit the points on the list, and they don’t want that. He might have to agree to let Australians buy the car they want, eat whatever they like, and even install gas stoves.  That won’t stop him doing those things after the election, but it will make it more embarrassing. It’s harder to win the subsequent election if the opposition can play an annoying reel of him saying  “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead” and that sort of thing. It’s so much better to lay low, then spring those horrible plans later, after a storm or a flood.

Look at the vapid excuses the Climate Change Authority make for  delaying the “advice”:

CCA chair Matt Kean, who was hand-picked by Mr Bowen [The Minister], said the release of the advice wouldn’t be “dictated by domestic political timetables”, leaving open the possibility of it coming after the federal election.

In other words, it is absolutely being dictated by domestic political timetables.

“The Climate Change Authority’s role is to provide independent, frank and fearless advice to the parliament and to the government of the day, irrespective of political colour,” Mr Kean, a former NSW Liberal treasurer, said.

“That advice needs to be informed by all of the facts and that’s why we will take our time to do the appropriate work to ensure the recommendations we make are as robust as possible.”

— by Rosie Lewis, The Australian

Never in history did they wait for “all the facts” before telling everyone what to do.

The only voters who want NetZero targets are the billionaires who invest in unreliable power

There are no school-girls screaming for climate action any more, just investors:

As the Climate Change Authority prepares to release a review into what actions key sectors could take to reach net zero by 2050, Investor Group on Climate Change policy managing director Erwin Jackson said businesses needed stability.

“Investors are looking for all governments to announce strong 2035 climate targets well before the COP in Brazil at the end of next year,” he said.

“Failing to act on climate change will make the job of Australian farmers, businesses, communities and investors even harder as they face more extreme weather events and an increasingly volatile future.”

When they say “businesses need stability” they really mean “businesses need subsidies”.

Climate plans will not be released,
Until after elections at least,
As talk of emissions,
Raises voter suspicions,
Whose skeptical views have increased.

–Ruairi

 

 

9.8 out of 10 based on 123 ratings

84 comments to Hide those climate plans until after the election

  • #
    joseph

    Doesn’t look like a very diverse audience . . . . 🙂

    150

  • #
    YYY Guy

    There is hope. Tim Flannery has returned, he’s on the next episode of that ABC fantasy show, Catalyst. Seaweed is going to save the planet. (Kindly ignore all the transport involved). $$$ to mates.

    320

    • #
      Graeme4

      Its main proposed use is as cattle feed, to reduce methane emissions, instead of letting them just munch on grass. All that would be achieved is to push up the already-high costs of red meat. And if the grass is not eaten by the cattle, it’s going to decompose and generate methane anyway. As if the tiny amount of methane in the atmosphere has any effect…

      370

    • #
      Ted1.

      Two comments worth deeper consideration.

      “Seaweed” has a very high water content. So, if you want to move it around you must either minimise the distance you are moving it or remove the water. Usually both.

      I can’t remember ever hearing the issue raised here by Graeme4, which should have been the first question in the whole debate. What happens if a cow does not eat the grass? It decomposes, “releasing” methane.

      The limiting factor in this methane madness is not the cows, it is the quantity of the grass. And it is all an established cycle anyway, which does not increase the methane content in the atmosphere.

      This methane lie was first brought to us in a full front page tabloid headline: “Cows Australia’s greatest source of Greenhouse Gases”. A CSIRO scientist working in Tasmania had discovered this.

      This was a monstrous lie, and I don’t believe any self respecting scientist ever said it. This was the CSIRO’s Marxist publicity machine at work, with the Hawke government having in December 1996 changed the management of the CSIRO, appointing a new board of management with Neville Wran as chairman. They put their own brand of “social scientists” in charge of the real scientists.

      So little research had been done that it was impossible to refute that lie, until somebody did some proper research and found that the whole of Agriculture, including Cows, was down the list of GG “emitters”.

      In the meantime the lie was tauht in our schools and academies. Then things went quiet, but OxBridge have regurgitated the lie in recent times.

      270

      • #
        Graeme4

        There is another issue regarding methane. Based on an article I have, I believe that the amount of methane is NOT calculated from livestock numbers, but based on the amount of grasslands that MAY be used for grazing. Not actually used, only may be used. This is a ridiculous assumption and can never truly show the actual amounts of grazing livestock, or their assumed amounts of methane produced. Happy to be corrected if I’m wrong here.

        70

      • #
        Ted1.

        That should have been December 1986.

        30

      • #
        Serge Wright

        We can also be sure that the largest population of cattle, which reside in India, will be excluded from any cuts, because those cows are sacred and don’t harm the planet.

        30

  • #
    Yarpos

    What businesses need is reliable, available and affordable power. This government will not deliver that. Worse still , they wont even pretend to try.

    430

    • #
      ando

      They are delivering the opposite – on purpose! All whilst the political class and top end public ‘servants’ are being enriched like never before.
      Sleazy, the ‘poor little houso boy’ is worth millions, jet setting around the globe at every opportunity, gorging himself on the taxpayers teat his entire adult life, whilst trashing our living standards in the process. Sickening state of affairs.

      350

    • #
      Strop

      Actually, they do pretend.

      Chris Bowen media release 14 May 2024 titled, “Delivering a reliable and renewable future, made in Australia”.

      The Albanese Government is securing a Future Made in Australia by leveraging our world-class resources and ensuring sovereign manufacturing in clean energy industries over the next decade:

      The Albanese Government is helping Australians by pushing bills down and delivering our clean, cheap reliable renewables plan with communities

      Our reliable 82 per cent renewables plan backed by storage, gas and transmission is the only plan backed by experts to deliver affordable energy where and when we need it.

      This is a pretense often repeated by this government.

      210

      • #
        wal1957

        “pushing bills down”… Obvious fail and therefore a LIE

        “Our reliable 82 per cent renewables plan backed by storage, gas and transmission is the only plan backed by experts to deliver affordable energy where and when we need it.”
        …”the ONLY plan backed by eggspurts”???? Really?…another obvious LIE.
        It is backed by gerbil warming cultists and billionaire investors after a surefire windfall from the government however.

        180

      • #
        OldOzzie

        Andrew Bolt – Government’s renewables push leading to ‘outrageous’ power bill increases

        Drakes Supermarkets Director John-Paul Drake slams the government’s renewables push amid spiking power bills.

        “A 60 per cent increase in electricity on last year,” Mr Drake told Sky News host Andrew Bolt.

        “You would say that is outrageous in any business.

        “For us, that’s $4 million literally off the bottom line.”

        320

        • #
          • #
            • #
              OldOzzie

              Kamalanomics: Like job slowdowns? ADP reports private-sector job slowdowns — in the highest-paid jobs

              The economics of the Harris-Biden administration are starting to get ugly out there.

              According to PYMNTS.com, a trade journal that tracks money flows:

              The labor market continued to cool in August, with job creation among private employers slowing for the fifth consecutive month and wage growth remaining flat.

              That’s bad, because already the 99,000 new jobs figure is below the expected 140,000 in new jobs created. Now it will probably be revised even lower than that, signalling that the private sector is slowing way down, the way they do during recessions. MarketWatch reports that the Federal Reserve, which has signalled a 25 basis point cut in September, may go lower than that just to try to shake some life into the economy.

              There’s one reason why this is going on — the government has gotten just too big under Kamala Harris and Joe Biden.

              The vast money it requires to keep itself afloat is more than the private sector can support, and the government printing money as a substitute for this missing economy government it needs to live off of is why inflation is showing up. There’s too much money chasing too few goods in this ever-shriveling economy, so the money-presses are going.

              Add to that that the U.S. is spending most of its money on interest from its past borrowings, which is in the billions now, topping the amount of money spent on defense and this is getting to be a very sad Argentina-style story.

              As the economy shrivels, the public sector expands, particularly with massive newly printed money coming out to pay for it.

              80

            • #
              another ian

              Say “Yes” and and check the qualifications of anyone who objects

              10

            • #

              And, unhappily, it applies, also, for Sir Starmer’s White (with a wee pink tinge?) Knights in Whitehall.
              Very little business experience – or demonstrable science knowledge – between the lot.
              Or their SPecial ADvisers [ the oik-like Spads].

              Our bad; we – well, about 20% of us – elected this lot.

              Auto

              00

      • #
        Penguinite

        Some commentators inadvertently oblige them too by parroting their talking points

        80

    • #
      OldOzzie

      If Rssuians can do this, where could we use such technology?

      Russia’s Nuclear Powered Cruise Missile

      Exclusive: U.S. researchers find probable launch site of Russia’s new nuclear-powered missile

      September 3, 2024

      Two U.S. researchers say they have identified the probable deployment site in Russia of the 9M730 Burevestnik, a new nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile touted by President Vladimir Putin as “invincible.”

      Putin has said the weapon – dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO – has an almost unlimited range and can evade U.S. missile defenses.

      But some Western experts dispute his claims and the Burevestnik’s strategic value, saying it will not add capabilities that Moscow does not already have and risks a radiation-spewing mishap.

      Nuclear Reactor Technology in Russian 9M730 and NATO SSC-X-9Skyfall Missiles

      According to available information, the Russian 9M730 Burevestnik (NATO designation SSC-X-9 Skyfall) is a low-flying, nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile under development for the Russian Armed Forces. The missile utilizes a miniature nuclear reactor, also referred to as a nuclear thermal rocket, as its power source.

      The reactor is designed to provide a significant amount of energy from a small mass of fuel, allowing the missile to have an effectively unlimited range and loiter for an extended period. This unique propulsion system enables the Burevestnik to evade missile defense systems and potentially attack from unexpected directions.

      Characteristics:

      . Length: 12 meters (39 ft) at launch, 9 meters (30 ft) in flight
      . Nuclear power unit: Miniature reactor, not shielded
      . Propulsion: Nuclear thermal rocket
      . Range: Effectively unlimited
      . Loiter time: Near indefinite

      Dimensions: Comparable to the Kh-101 cruise missile, but with characteristic protrusions where air is likely heated by the nuclear reactor

      90

    • #
      OldOzzie

      Trump vows to cut energy costs in half — and he has a real plan to do it

      By Post Editorial Board

      “I will be the American energy president,” Donald Trump vowed Thursday in Michigan, promising to cut energy costs in half.

      The “again” was understood, since Trump had made America energy-independent in his first term, before the Harris-Biden crowd took over and sent costs soaring.

      He’ll “slash red tape,” ramp up approvals of new power plants, spur nuclear energy, and roll back Democrats’ fossil-fuel restrictions.

      Hear, hear! It’s the all-of-the-above strategy that led the nation to become in Trump’s first term.

      And it would once again yield huge gains not just for America, but the entire Free World.

      As former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt made clear on a campaign press call, such plans are vital to future prosperity.

      “Between soaring demand and retiring coal, we are facing a great [energy] capacity shortfall of at least 30% by 2032,” Bernhardt warned — arguing that Team Harris-Walz can’t make up the difference thanks to “their net zero vision.”

      Democrats are too obsessed with reducing carbon emissions, and so block not only new gas- and oil-drilling, but also new pipelines, refineries, fossil-fuel power plants (and cars and stoves and heating) and so on.

      Under Trump’s plan, Bernhardt predicted, “every manufacturing plant, every data center, every semiconductor facility and assembly line will want to be built in America — because America will be the place where the cost of energy is lower than anywhere else on Earth.”

      Those lower costs will help rein in inflation in America as well: After all, energy — electricity for manufacturing or oil for transportation — accounts for a hefty share of the cost of nearly every product.

      And energy prices have shot up under Harris-Biden: Gasoline, by 45%, for instance, and commercially used natural gas, as of May, by 43%.

      He’d also push back against EV mandates and pull out of the Paris Climate Accords (again).

      250

      • #
        RickWill

        “I will be the American energy president,” Donald Trump vowed Thursday in Michigan, promising to cut energy costs in half.

        The sad part about this is that it is not even a challenge. Just remove all the mandated theft from consumers and the energy costs will halve.

        Imagine how much money would be freed up if they just stop funding the climate industrial complex including the UN.

        260

        • #
          el+gordo

          Its bound to have an impact on our election.

          ‘Donald Trump will increase the US budget deficit and wind back Joe Biden’s climate change policies if he is elected president, his former adviser Anthony Scaramucci has warned.’ (Oz)

          32

    • #
      Leo G

      What businesses need is reliable, available and affordable power. This government will not deliver that.

      This government does deliver the stuff of reliable, available and affordable power to export markets. Our businesses survive by cannibalising the reliable and affordable until unavailable.

      00

  • #
    Forrest Gardener

    I didn’t realize this was a party political issue. I was under the impression that all major parties and the ever so nice but not a party teals were fellow travelers.

    How I look forward to being proven wrong but sadly I expect the pretending to continue.

    190

    • #
      wal1957

      Agreed. I heard the term “uniparty” a few years ago.
      It accurately describes the major parties.

      120

      • #
        el+gordo

        Democracy is aimed at consensus, it only appears to be a uniparty. It would be great to see a young radical enter the Senate and deeply embarrass the majors.

        Back to the post, the reason the climate scientists (sic) are holding back on reporting the temperature spike is because we have reached a tipping point. In other words, its already too late and the renewable industry is a stranded asset.

        https://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_August_2024_v6_20x9-scaled.jpg

        This is a zero sum game, they can admit that it has been caused by Hunga Tonga and will eventually subside, or they could continue kicking the can down the street. My guess is that they will remain mute.

        63

        • #
          Mike Haseler

          The Uniparty exists because the press is overwhelmingly controlled by a few rich people who ensure that whatever their politics, only politicians who they endorse get to power. In the past, any politician who as much as stepped out of line, got viciously attacked by the controlled media in a way that they could not fight, because there was no means to get heard except via the controlled media.

          Then, along came the internet … which they initially couldn’t control … and then we got a burst of freedom and the ability of the public to see that most of the public didn’t want the Uniparty that was in power, but wanted things to change. And, of course the controlled media, and the controlled politicians hated it. So, they set about censoring the internet to turn the internet into the same controlled “forum” that the “public debate” used to be, when it only happened in the controlled media.

          We are now at the interesting phase, where the first round of censorship of the internet, has failed to totally silence those who hate the UniParty and the stiffing “politics” of the controlled media. Will people willingly accept more and more censorship, until there is again no real public debate, except that allowed by our “controllers”, or will people have the common sense to ditch the controlled & censored media and we see the internet return to its former glory where anyone could set up a website on any subject and there was no one like Google censoring all the small independent sites with independent views.

          100

          • #
            el+gordo

            This blog is safe because the editor in chief has a firm control over comments.

            ‘Will people willingly accept more and more censorship …’

            Because of our democracy the politicians have to get the balance right or risk being thrown out at the next election. Now if you look at autocratic regimes like China, the Netizens still get the message out through satire, free expression is irrepressible.

            21

  • #
    Strop

    I didn’t hear Albanese refer to the Uluru Statement once during the last election campaign. In claiming victory on election night, seemingly out of the blue came the big statement. “On behalf of the Australian Labor Party, I commit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.”
    If it had been a well publicised agenda item there wouldn’t have been a need to make such a statement.

    A commitment made by a “leader” (I use the word loosely) who had no understanding of the detail of what he had committed to. Who flipped and flopped on saying things about the topic for the following 18 months, depending on who the audience was.

    This is a PM who learnt after the previous election that it’s better to hide your agenda and get elected. Rather than to stand proudly and prosecute a vision and lead.

    They will undoubtedly try and be a small target again at the election. With a big hidden agenda.

    The promise to be more open and transparent than other governments, and to “do politics better”, has proven to be another broken promise.

    400

  • #
    Stephen

    “Failing to act on climate change will make the job of Australian farmers, businesses, communities and investors even harder as they face more extreme weather events and an increasingly volatile future.”

    Rubbish.

    ‘Climate Change Authority’ – Authority over climate, or companies? Either way it needs to be abolished.

    Investor Group on Climate Change

    Rebecca Mikula-Wright
    Chief Executive Officer, Investor Group on Climate Change & Asia Investor Group on Climate Change

    Rebecca is the Chief Executive Officer of the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC) and Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC). She sits on the Steering Committees for Climate Action 100+, the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative and the Investor Agenda, as well as the Executive Committee for the Paris Aligned Asset Owners. Rebecca has worked in climate change, sustainability and investment banking for over 20 years in Hong Kong, Europe and Australia.

    Rebecca started her career in investment banking working in equity research, credit analysis, commodities and derivatives for groups such as Nomura Securities, BlackRock, Exxon Mobil and JPMorgan.

    160

  • #
    Bruce of Newcastle

    When we get in just change it all.

    – Peter Garrett to Steve Price at Melbourne Airport 3 Nov 2007

    They’ve been intentional liars for a long time.

    270

  • #
    Ruairi

    Climate plans will not be released,
    Until after elections at least,
    As talk of emissions,
    Raises voter suspicions,
    Whose skeptical views have increased.

    290

  • #
    Neville

    I wouldn’t vote for Labor or Greens or Teals ever.
    I’ll probably vote for One Nation and at least Malcolm Roberts etc understands that so called dangerous CC is just more BS and nonsense.
    But my preferences will always go to the Coalition and L, G ,Ts will always go last.
    I’d like to see Dutton win and concentrate on Gas or Coal or Nuclear and let’s hope we soon see a total ban on toxic W & S ASAP. Who knows?

    280

  • #
    Simon

    Australia doesn’t have a choice in the matter, they have to declare a 2035 target by February.
    A 2020 Monash University study found eight out of 10 Australians think the shift to renewable energy is inevitable:
    https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2024/03/20/1386429/do-we-want-a-wind-farm-outside-our-window-what-australians-think-about-the-net-zero-transition

    237

    • #
      Lance

      That is a classic logical fallacy, the False Dilemma / False Dichotomy.

      https://www.developgoodhabits.com/false-dichotomy/

      Firstly, there is no proof to certainty that a problem exists. Claims, yes. Proofs, No.

      2035 is an arbitrary, political, target that can change at any moment.

      Other alternatives exist, such as Nuclear energy, CCGT, HELE, etc.

      Claiming “AU doesn’t have a choice in the matter” is nonsense. There are always choices, until one excludes them, willfully.

      Please consider studying “Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking”.

      380

    • #
      Strop

      Thinking something is inevitable and thinking something is a good idea are two completely different things.

      When Labor won the last federal election I thought it was inevitable that there would be mismanagement of illegal immigrants and handling of visas. Either by design or through incompetents. Doesn’t mean I thought mismanagement is a good idea.

      There are reasons for thinking the move to renewables is inevitable, while not thinking it’s a good idea or needed.
      1. The shifting demographic of voters. Future generations of voters coming from the climate fear indoctrinated group.
      2. A lack of confidence in politicians to make smart decisions regarding the future.
      3. The expectation that there’s a possibility of technological advances that might make large scale storing of energy affordable.
      4. The timescale for predicted disasters to be obviously wrong (although there’s a good number of examples already) still being too far away that the transition will be well under way.

      Doesn’t mean that the large percentage of people who currently know there isn’t a climate crisis but still think the switch is inevitable, or know that the switch isn’t currently feasible, won’t oppose it. People regularly oppose things they think are inevitable because they know a delay is at least better than the foolish rush, while holding hope for sense to kick in.

      80

    • #
      Neville

      Simon we’ve told you for years that we can’t make a difference to the climate and the data proves we are right.
      Even Dr Finkel agrees, the Royal Society, the Co2 Coalition Scientists etc agree and the Vostok ice core data proves the point.
      So why do you insist we destroy our land and sea environments and waste trillions of $ on toxic W & S for SFA return? And repeat this lunacy every 15 to 20 years?

      310

    • #
      el+gordo

      This is the rub, not in my backyard.

      ‘There’s also been significant community pushback to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s plan to install 10,000 kilometres of overground transmission lines, which are key to carrying renewable energy to the electricity grid. Only 35% of respondents in the Guardian Essential poll supported them.’

      121

    • #
      Boambee John

      Propose wind generators along the cliff tops north and south of Port Jackson and watch that enthusiasm evaporate.

      And solar collectors in Centennial Park.

      120

      • #
        PeterPetrum

        I’m waiting to see the wind turbines along the cliff tops along the northern Sydney shore line. I keep looking ……….

        30

  • #
    Ardy

    In 2020, the US state of Wisconsin had 110,000 voters who first registered to vote before January 1918. They all ‘voted’ in 2020.
    Whether they get out to vote this time, in their 125th year of life, is yet to be seen.

    270

    • #
      wal1957

      Yep. Cemeteries around the country are full of new voters just waiting to cast their mail-in ballot which will probably arrive at about 3am in the morning.

      260

    • #
      ozfred

      A reference documenting that please?

      42

      • #
        ozfred

        I support the idea that the Wisconsin voter registration system lacks veracity. And most certainly the defaults that generated “the anomaly” need to have been “cleaned up” by now.
        In any case the voting registration records for Wisconsin do NOT inspire confidence.
        https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/jan/14/facebook-posts/false-claim-100000-wisconsin-voters-registered-mor/
        There are about 120,000 records in Wisconsin’s voter database that show a default registration date of 1/1/1918, but this is not representative of voters who have been registered for 100 years. Rather, it’s the result of a data migration workaround that came about 16 years ago when Wisconsin merged its statewide database with municipal databases.

        60

  • #
    Stephen

    DRILL, BABY, DRILL

    MAKE AUSTRALIA GREAT AGAIN….

    220

  • #
    Old Goat

    You don’t need a weather vane to know which way the wind blows – just follow the money. Everyone in politics is lying , and it’s the only way to get elected . You tell the electorate what they want to hear and then do what you want . Thats what happens when you write your own paychecks and contracts .You “vote” for who you “think” will screw you the least . You are either cynical or sheep .

    200

  • #
    Geoff Sherrington

    Jo,
    Somewhat related story tip.

    The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian have articles dated 5th Sept about a court case where the BOM was guilty of unfair dismissal of an employee.
    In the USA, a Republican group of Politicians have accused NOAA of failing standards of data validity and asked for explanations.

    I am planning to use that US example in a letter to our BOM relating to this following SMH article and asking what data integrity measures BOM have in place re global warming.
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/09/05/house-republicans-press-noaa-over-data-used-to-push-climate-change-narrative/

    Geoff S
    ……

    From SMH 6 Sept 2024.
    BoM loses illegal sacking case as staff condemn ‘toxic’ and ‘chaotic’ culture
    ByCaitlin Fitzsimmons and Nick O’Malley
    September 5, 2024 — 11.45am
    The Bureau of Meteorology has lost a bitterly fought unfair dismissal case that dates back more than five years, while a raft of current and former employees have come forward to describe the workplace culture as “toxic” and “chaotic”.
    The Commonwealth agency dropped its appeal of an unfair dismissal decision in favour of former employee Jasmine Chambers, who joined in 2019 as general manager of global and national science relationships. The appeal case was settled out of court late last month, which means the findings from the earlier judgment stand.

    Former Bureau of Meteorology employee Jasmine Chambers outside the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia last October.Credit:Rhett Wyman
    In a scathing judgment in February, Judge Doug Humphreys, from the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, found the bureau had breached the Fair Work Act in four ways when it drove Chambers out of the organisation in 2020.
    The Chambers case concludes as five other current and former employees, speaking on condition of anonymity, have shared claims with this masthead of a “toxic” culture, “chaotic” decision-making, and bullying.
    All five claim that part of the reason for low staff morale was an institutional reluctance to deal with questions about climate change and extreme weather at a time when the nation was dealing with mounting climate disasters such as bushfires and floods. The BoM denies these claims.
    The first attempt to sack Chambers was made after she took two days of approved personal leave after a work conference in Paris. Several months later, the organisation announced a restructuring that abolished Chambers’ position in what her lawyers described as a “sham redundancy”.
    The court criticised several managers, particularly chief executive Dr Andrew Johnson. The former Coalition government appointed Johnson in 2016 and renewed the position for another five years in 2021.
    “The court formed the view that Dr Johnson managed the bureau using a close and detailed management style, in which his views were final and not subject to any challenge,” the judgment says.
    Mia Pantechis, principal with Maurice Blackburn Lawyers who acted for Chambers, said her client always had a strong case and claimed it was “unnecessarily drawn out” by the BoM, despite established guidelines that Commonwealth agencies should be model litigants.
    “This should have been settled promptly,” Pantechis said. “Instead, it took five years of threatened and actual litigation, and that takes a toll on people who stand up for their workplace rights. That can’t be underestimated.”
    Chambers said she was pleased the case had finally concluded, and she hoped it would encourage public institutions such as the BoM to put appropriate governance in place. “I will take some time to gather my thoughts and have more to say in future,” she said.
    A BoM spokesperson said the settlement was consistent with its obligations as a model litigant to settle claims where possible and appropriate.
    However, the Humphreys judgment found: “The matter was very hard fought both at [the] hearing and in the written submissions. The respondent [BoM] has contested the matter on both fact and law, arguing every available factual and legal point.”
    The judge also noted that many of the witnesses who gave evidence on behalf of the bureau had since left the organisation but made no finding on this.
    One of the former employees critical of the BoM worked in the communications team and wound up hospitalised for three months in 2022 after the conditions at work aggravated his pre-existing mental illnesses.
    In documents seen by this masthead, Comcare accepted liability in 2022 and rejected an appeal by the BoM a few months later.
    ‘The worst place he’d worked’
    In comments to this masthead, the former employee claimed there was a culture of unrealistic expectations, bullying and gaslighting. The veteran public servant, who asked for his name to be withheld to protect his current job, said it was “the worst place [he’d] ever worked”.
    “I’d wake up in the morning and feel like vomiting because I knew I’d be hammered from the minute I walked in to 6.30 that evening,” he said.
    The employee claimed he knew of colleagues who took extended stress leave, and a large number of people quit in a single year. His managers at the time have also subsequently left.
    The BoM spokesperson said a Comcare inspection in December 2022 did not identify any non-compliance with work health and safety legislation. The spokesperson said workplace culture was positive and improving, and staff turnover had declined since 2021–22.
    Johnson told estimates earlier this year that the bureau’s culture and morale were “really strong”, referring to the results of the 2023 APS employee survey.
    While the survey had some positive results, only about 40 per cent agreed that the senior executive level worked as a team and communicated effectively with the rest of the agency. Twenty-eight per cent said that change was managed well, 17 percentage points lower than other large public service organisations.
    A BoM spokesperson said this was not unusual, given the organisation had undergone significant change.
    Another former BoM communications employee claimed she had left because she found it distressing to work for the organisation as she believed it deliberately hampered media reporting of climate change.
    She claimed that whenever a journalist contacted the BoM with a simple request that mentioned climate change or severe weather, communications officers were instructed to prepare a briefing about the reporter and the questions along with a proposed response, which then had to be cleared by four layers of management and sometimes the chief executive, who often did not approve the prepared statement.
    No interviews with the BoM’s experts were to be granted, and statements could only be written, resulting in thin responses that were often too late for journalists’ deadlines. She believed this approach was because the chief executive was sympathetic to the former government and then-prime minister Scott Morrison, and climate change policy was known to be a contentious political issue.
    Culture of silence
    In 2022, this masthead quoted Professor Scott Power, a senior principal research scientist who quit the bureau in 2020, who described a culture of silence over climate change at the time.
    The BoM spokesperson said neither the current nor former government had given any formal or informal directive about how the organisation should communicate about climate change. The spokesperson denied that approvals for media commentary on climate change went as high as the chief executive’s office, saying it followed the standardised process for all media approvals in place for many years.
    The spokesperson pointed to the chief executive’s many statements to budget estimates affirming that the increase in both atmospheric land and ocean temperatures was because of human activity. However, the spokesperson said the bureau’s role was to provide data, not to analyse or determine how to respond to the threat.
    The spokesperson said the BoM employed 297 meteorologists and 28 climatologists, and these experts “regularly and publicly communicate the results of peer-reviewed climate change status and trends, consistent with the bureau’s role and capability”.
    Related Article
    Industrial relations
    Court slams Bureau of Meteorology executives over ‘sham redundancy’
    The judgment in the unfair dismissal case established that Chambers took a pay cut from her former university role to accept the role at the BoM and was promised she would be entitled to business class flights for work travel.
    The attempts to fire Chambers started five years ago, after she took two days of approved personal leave after a work conference in Paris. When she returned, she was told she would be audited because she had flown business class, taken leave, and claimed expenses only available to more senior staff.
    In August 2019, her boss, chief scientist Dr Gilbert Brunet, who had approved the trip including all leave, told her she had not passed probation and would be dismissed, despite having earlier given positive feedback. Chambers said she would seek an injunction, and the BoM made undertakings not to sack her.
    In November 2019, Chambers’ performance was again rated by Brunet as unsatisfactory. Chambers complained to the merit protection commissioner, who found the assessment to be wrong and unsupported by evidence.
    Related Article
    Extreme weather
    Under the weather: the Bureau of Meteorology’s terrible, horrible, very bad, no good year
    Later that month, the BoM announced a restructure that would make Chambers’ position redundant and replace it with a position at the same grade but allegedly a different job description.
    Chambers’ employment ceased a year later, in December 2020, and the bureau advertised the new role in July 2021.

    170

  • #
    Penguinite

    The political class knows full well that they only need to garner, convince and indoctrinate 5%-10% of the population to win an election and if all else fails buy, lie and cheat their way in to power!

    80

  • #
    John Connor II

    They all know the public won’t vote for the Labor Party if they reveal their extortionate plans. The only way for the blob to get what they want is to hide it. They are just copying “the Team-Kamala Plan”. (Don’t mention the Climate.) In the US, Kamala is saying nothing about the climate, and the Greens fully endorse her silence. The only way to solve that paradox is to assume Kamala plans to deceive the voters, and the Green approve of the deceit.

    So nothing new for polly-tics then.
    Hide the plans, lie, feign ignorance, empty promises, blame your predecessors, collusion, fake science and experts.
    Yawn…
    So what real alternatives are there to the self-serving clown parties that exist?
    None, and none on the horizon.
    And 80% of the population drip-fed msm CNN style garbage fake news and misinformation.
    Which is why what’s coming is unavoidable, and indeed necessary…

    110

  • #
    Ross

    I don’t believe for a moment that the Green and Teals wont be bleating about Climate Change throughout the election campaign. Whenever that is. It’s the only thing that got the Teals into parliament in the last election. It will be dead easy for them because they’ll ratchet up the alarmism and then blame the Libs/Labs for not doing enough traduce emissions.. The oceans will be flooding, boiling and burning. All those lovey kept ladies in Toorak will vote again for Monique Ryan because, well, they probably don’t pay the power bill.

    60

  • #
    STJOHNOFGRAFTON

    NetZero is damnable because it’s scamable. Its value is as elastic as climate change. That’s why the CCA-Big business cartel likes the concept of NetZero. They can stretch the truth and ‘pull the wool’ with it. Realistically NetZero is NyetZero. NYET ZERO – Say NO to Net Zero.
    NOTE:This event happened in March this year but you can watch the replay here: https://indimaxproductions.vhx.tv/packages/the-triple-conference-15-17-march-livestream/videos/the-triple-conference-nyet-zero-gala-03-16-2024-10-52-16

    40

  • #
    TdeF

    What happened to rapid global warming?

    There has been a major change in the story.

    “Failing to act on climate change .. more extreme weather events and an increasingly volatile future.”

    Rapid Global Warming has been replaced by ‘extreme weather events’ and ‘volatility’? Really?

    So now we are controlling weather events? This story has fallen apart. It’s a clear admission that rapid, tipping point, Armageddon warming has stopped. The weather is not the climate. That the mantra of Climate Scientists.

    According to Prof Richard Lindzen, conventional meteorology says that increased temperatures lowers the chance of hurricanes. Dr.Judith Curry publicly disagreed and ultimately admitted she was wrong.

    We are now installing solar panels and windmills to control the weather? What logic is this?

    And 500,000 windmills and billions of solar panels have done this to CO2 in the last 50 years

    110

    • #

      Excellent News. More CO2 means a greener Planet. Keep it up China and others.

      50

      • #
        David Maddison

        Our planet would be dying from CO2 starvation if not for the Chicomms building two coal power stations per week with a lifetime of 50-70 yrs plus making them by far the world’s largest CO2 emitter.

        Why are we blowing up our power stations again?

        100

        • #
          TdeF

          Except there is no demonstrated connection between CO2 in the atmosphere and human activity. The graph I linked is a dead straight line. Emissions are exponentially growing, but irrelevant. They have now reached a level where each year we contribute a mighty 1% to CO2, only to see it vanish into the oceans right away. The residence time is about 10 years, but for human CO2 emissions, it is 2-3 years as they are output close to sea level and CO2 is heavier than air.

          80

          • #
            TdeF

            The ChiComs do not believe the UN. After all, they run the place. Only democracies think the UN is seriously concerned about climate or that politicians have any ability to change the weather.

            80

          • #
            DOC

            I thought that when I read the graph. Also, as temperatures of oceans rise there is increased elution of CO2 from warming waters – and increased CO2 dissolving in cold waters. Is this not so? The gentleman taking his samples appears to be fairly close to the ocean. Was he near a functioning factory or a flock of sheep? Which way was the wind blowing and what was in the area around him? What did he think he was measuring? From that position it would simply be a local interest measurement. It would seem to have nothing to do with Global Average [CO2]atm measurements. At such locations around the world, some oceans are warm and some cold and icy.

            Out of interest is it found such spontaneous CO2 measurements at sea level are highly variable between such locations, reflective of the sea temperature adjoining the site? Unless one knows the dose response curve (in medicine its concentration of drug and its effect) of the ‘average’ [CO2]atm change and the change in ‘average’ temperature of the ‘average atmosphere and know if there is a limiting [CO2]atm beyond which the temperature response falls away, then everything is irrelevant anyway.

            Despite all the gas mixing that is said to happen in the atmosphere, has the atmosphere at many heights and numerous location all over the globe had the [CO2] measured to check uniformity over lands, seas and the poles? ie have all the basics of accepted atmospheric science been proven as against using mathematical assumptions based on conventional wisdom? Then there’s the history of centuries between when the globe warms and [CO2] rises. Climate change theory argues the reverse based solely on CO2 – only that derived from Democracies it would seem. Adds insult to injury!
            (These are more amateur questions of interest rather than an expression from an atmospheric expert. I understand it might hit the off topic barrier. Not a problem)

            10

      • #
        another ian

        Might need a ROI on the costs vs the benefits though

        30

  • #
    Mike Haseler

    We’ve reached the point when all those people who were calling those who understood the science and economics “deniers” for expressing our scepticism, are all turning sceptics, because now they see the reality of the appalling nightmare they were clapping on, they don’t like it, not one bit. We haven’t quite got to the point where they will say: “Why didn’t anyone warn us”, the ultimate hypocrisy from those who shouted down anyone who tried to warn them, but it will come.

    No one wants to admit they are implementing the WEF plans for economic and social suicide, no one wants to admit the only policy they have is doom and gloom and the slide into economic oblivion.

    90

  • #
    Ian

    “It was part of the sacred Paris Agreement that they pump up the NetZero promises every five years, which means by February 2025.

    The Paris Agreement was signed by Abbott in 2015 when PM and ratified by Turnbull when PM in 2016. Abbott later, in 2018, urged withdrawal from the Paris Agreement but then changed his mind again in 2019. Abbott, who signed up to Paris when he was prime minister but then declared that Australia should pull out during the prime ministership of Malcolm Turnbull, confirmed he had changed his mind again during a debate on Friday morning with the independent challenger Zali Steggall and other federal election candidates in his seat of Warringah. The LNP backed the Paris Agreement till ousted from government in 2022. Opposition leader Peter Dutton on June 11 2024 reiterated the Coalition’s support for the Paris climate agreement, following suggestions he might walk away from the deal. But he fuelled speculation the Coalition plans to scrap Australia’s current 2030 emissions target and confirmed he won’t announce the Coalition’s proposed target before the election.

    As is apparent it is the Liberals that got Australia into the Paris Agreement but are at a complete loss in their stance on Climate Change. It ain’t Chris Bowen that is all at sea but the inept LNP. As for Dutton’s stance on nuclear power as yet nothing. repeat nothing, has been made public

    15

    • #
      DOC

      Nobody has said why our government and all governments of Democratic nations allowed themselves to fall hook line and sinker for this most destructive, non proven, opinion based ‘science’ theory and its demanded responses of the UN. From the start, people were reading the UN draft on climate and its demands and were pointing out it was nothing but a destructive wealth transference demand on the Democracies to the third world. It stripped Democracies of wealth and they were in effect having their economies put on ice. Our politicians wouldn’t listen. They were besotted with Globalism, a new World Governance was the ‘in’ vogue position. They seemed very keen to dump national politics to get post-politics jobs (power) with the rising entity. None seemed to consider that their enemies, totalitarians all, would never succumb to such an arrangement (unless they controlled it). This is what has happened, but our political elites are buried so far in the sewers with the national damage they have done that it is impossible to find more than one leader in the Democracies willing to stand up, can stand up being innocent of these dealings, and toss the lot on the scrap heap. That of course is Trump, even if the bloke isn’t your pure angel. So we will all know our fateful future in 8 weeks.

      20

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    ‘He’s Just Like Us!’ Donald Trump Creates HILARIOUS Viral Moment as He Denounces Mosquitos”

    https://twitchy.com/grateful-calvin/2024/09/05/donald-trump-shoots-up-in-the-polls-as-he-battles-and-denounces-mosquitos-n2400549

    Do the dems now rally i support of mosquitos?

    40

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW –

    “​​​​​​​It’s Spreading: America’s Top Oil Field Terrorized By Armed Venezuelan Gangs”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/its-spreading-americas-top-oil-field-terrorized-armed-venezuela-gangs

    30

  • #