Far from decrying the government handing $4 million to Danish climate sceptic Bjørn Lomborg to establish a “consensus centre” at a Western Australian university, Crikey welcomes it.
True, as some say, that $4 million could be better used being given to actual scientists to do actual science — perhaps it could be given to the CSIRO, which has been savaged by cuts under both this and the former government. It’s also true that this government has a predilection for funding things that fly in the face of science or even simple rationality — like its quarter-billion dollar school chaplains program that actually kicked out non-religious counsellors from schools.
But really, $4 million is a drop in the ocean of assistance that the government has given big carbon polluters and the resources sector; in the face of the billions of dollars handed to big business via the abolition of the mining tax and the carbon price and the establishment of the sublimely dumb Direct Action program, $4 million is nothing.
And this is for a “consensus centre”. It shows is a brave commitment to moderation and agreement at a time of bitter partisanship and ideological hostility. Consensus is, we agree, crucial. And we can think of some more ways that the government could embrace consensus. It could accept the overwhelming consensus about the reality of anthropogenic climate change and the need for Australia to decarbonise its economy. It could accept the consensus that renewables are the future of energy. It could accept the consensus that wind turbine syndrome exists only in the minds of a handful of cranks. It could accept the consensus that not merely will Direct Action not enable Australia to reach its committed carbon emission reduction targets, but that it’s a colossal waste of money.
Then again, maybe the government only likes consensus when it suits it.
“The Limited News Party : Your Adult’s Only Government at Work – “More Con Than Sense, Us!”
This IS the worst government we’ve ever had. Let’s hope it remains so.
Wonderful pisstake on “consensus” Crikey.
I really don’t think that you could get a better demonstration of why Abbott should have always remained unelectable.
That is, throughout their time in government, he and his cronies have relentlessly defunded many organisations and programs, claiming that “the budget emergency” meant that the nation could no longer afford such items. But now, they choose to spend $4,000,000 to import a charlatan. Once here, the charlatan will be ensconced in an academic institution, where he will conduct a campaign that will endeavour to undermine the academic values of unbiased research and drawing conclusions based on sound evidence. All while far more deserving research projects go unfunded.
Strangely, I can’t see this decision creating much consensus.
Actually, now that I think of it, possibly the best way to fight against this appalling bit of political patronage, could be to email Abbott and encourage him to give Lomborg a knighthood? Who knows, he could be mad enough to do it?
I don’t hold out much hope for a proper consensus with the centre being led by a climate change sceptic, whose primary academic qualification is in political science, and by all accounts, a neoliberal.This so-called ‘consensus centre’ is nothing but another piece in the Abbott propaganda machine favouring fossil fuel industry interests.