One of Tony Abbott’s most controversial appointments was his Chair of the Business Advisory Council Maurice Newman. Mr Newman will not be advising Malcolm Turnbull.
MALCOLM Turnbull is looking for a chief business adviser as the climate change sceptic appointed by Tony Abbott, Maurice Newman, has ended his controversial two-year term.
Mr Newman, who has warned the United Nations wants to take over the world, is unlikely to be invited back to the job by the current Prime Minister.
Mr Newman became one of Mr Abbott’s most remarkable selections when he was made chair of the PM’s Business Advisory Council.
He has stood down from the post, coincidently at the same time as Mr Abbott moved from the office of Prime Minister. A spokesman for Prime Minister Turnbull said Mr Newman had finished his two-year term.
But he has left behind an extraordinary trail of conspiracy theories and prejudices — such as his stern dislike of wind farms.
The man who had the former Prime Minister’s ear on how to boost business firmly rejected climate change, and claimed it was a plot for a United Nations takeover, saying it was aimed at “a new world order”.
Climate change scientists believes cyclones will become more powerful as the global temperature warms. More damage is expected in tropical areas of Australia. Innisfail, south of Cairns, was badly damaged by category 5 Cyclone Larry in 2006.Source:News Corp Australia
In May he outlined his fears in a column for The Australian.
“It’s a well-kept secret, but 95 per cent of the climate models we are told prove the link between human CO2 emissions and catastrophic global warming have been found, after nearly two decades of temperature stasis, to be in error. It’s not surprising,” he wrote in the column.
“We have been subjected to extravagance from climate catastrophists for close to 50 years.”
Mr Newman also supports the theory that weather bureaus are part of the conspiracy. This reflects the view which nearly produced an inquiry into the Bureau of Meteorology under Mr Abbott.
Mr Newman wrote: “Weather bureaus appear to have ‘homogenised’ data to suit narratives.
“NASA’s claim that 2014 was the warmest year on record was revised, after challenge, to only 38 per cent probability. Extreme weather events, once blamed on global warming, no longer are, as their frequency and intensity decline.”
But as they told news.com.au yesterday, the Bureau of Meteorology strenuously deny changing the data to manipulate figures towards a global warming trend.
“Temperature records are influenced by a range of factors such as changes to site surrounds, measurement methods and the relocation of stations. Such changes introduce biases into the climate record that need to be adjusted for prior to analysis.
Adjusting for these biases, a process known as homogenisation, is carried out by meteorological authorities around the world as best practice to ensure that climate data is consistent through time.”
An example would be if a weather station was originally established in an area that was bush or parkland. If the area has been developed over the years, it is likely to record a warmer temperature, as urban areas are generally warmer. And that means the weather station must be relocated, or old records homogenised, or both.
Maurice Newman was strongly anti wind farms, such as the Mt Mercer Wind Farm in Victoria. Picture: Peter RistevskiSource:News Corp Australia
While Mr Newman’s views on climate change were out of step with most scientists, it was his United Nation’s conspiracy which attracted most attention. He argued Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN’s Framework on Climate Change had revealed the plot.
After presenting an apparently innocuous quote from her, Mr Newman explained: “In other words, the real agenda is concentrated political authority. Global warming is the hook.
“Figueres is on record saying democracy is a poor political system for fighting global warming. Communist China, she says, is the best model.
“This is not about facts or logic. It’s about a new world order under the control of the UN. It is opposed to capitalism and freedom and has made environmental catastrophism a household topic to achieve its objective.”
It’s not known how much influence he had on Mr Abbott.
The 14 members of the Business Advisory Council meet three times a year with senior ministers.
It covers most business sectors except small business.
