The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority makes very scary claims that CO2 is destroying the reef. They do this even though they cannot provide the specific effect of human carbon dioxide on climate factors like air or ocean temperature.
The greens are always rattled when I start to pick apart these claims and you can hear them try to smear me throughout the video.
Transcript
[Chair] Thank you for attending today.
[Malcolm Roberts] First question is: what empirical scientific evidence does the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority have within a logical scientific framework that proves cause and effect, and specifically proves that carbon dioxide from human activity affects climate and needs to be cut to save the Reef? GBRMPA has said a lot about that. And I’d like to know what evidence in specific.
[Joshua Thomas] I’ll ask my chief scientist to address that, Senator.
[Malcolm Roberts] Thank you, Mr Thomas.
[David Wachenfeld], Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. The effect of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not our direct business. There are thousands of scientists all over the world who do research into climate and the effects of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Those, the work of those scientists is synthesised and summarised in the assessment reports of the IPCC. We don’t independently assess evidence for the effects of carbon dioxide on atmosphere and climate. And that’s a global issue, not a Great Barrier Reef issue.
[Malcolm Roberts] So I understand… I’ve forgotten your name, I’m sorry.
[David Wachenfeld] David Wachenfeld.
[Malcolm Roberts] Mr. Wachenfeld. I understand that…
[Whish-Wilson] Doctor.
[Malcolm Roberts] Doctor. Thanks. I understand that… GBRMPA. Do we have any advance on David? Okay. I understand that GBRMPA has echoed those claims and spread those claims that carbon dioxide needs to be cut to save the Barrier Reef. Is that correct?
[David Wachenfeld] So the Authority’s position is well set out in that Climate Change Position Statement, and yes-
[Malcolm Roberts] What is that?
[Joshua Thomas] So we have a position statement that articulates quite clearly that we see climate change as the greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef. And that all action should be taken to reduce emissions over time at a global, national and local scale.
[Malcolm Roberts] So according to Dr. Wachenfeld, the evidence for that is in the IPCC.
[Joshua Thomas] No, Senator. The evidence for that is in probably thousands of scientific papers by scientists-
[Malcolm Roberts] You can’t point to where it is specifically for the basis of that policy?
[David Wachenfeld] Well, Senator, there is… I’m trying to summarise here a vast body of global research conducted by scientists all over the world that is probably most authoritatively summarised in the IPCC reports. The specific consequences of climate change for the Great Barrier Reef are also covered by the work of many scientists through many institutions. That work is summarised in our Outlook Report, which we produce every five years.
[Malcolm Roberts] Thank you for repeating it again. Mr. Thomas has just told me, your position statement says it’s carbon dioxide from human activity is the greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef. Now I want to know what specifically you rely on. Pinpointed. Where’s the specific scientific data within a logical scientific framework that proves human carbon dioxide affects the Barrier Reef. And here’s the quote, Mr. Thomas: “the greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef.”
[Joshua Thomas] Well, Senator, as Dr. Wachenfeld is trying to explain, there are thousands of sources that we can-
[Malcolm Roberts] I just want one.
[Joshua Thomas] That we consider and digest. And we’d be very happy to provide you a summary or a list of some of those sources that we rely on heavily.
[Malcolm Roberts] What I would like and make very clear is the empirical scientific data within a logical scientific framework that proves cause and effect that specifically states the link between carbon dioxide and various climate factors, such as water temperature, ocean temperature, air temperature, rainfall, droughts, winds, currents, ocean alkalinity. That’s what I would like. Until you have that, it’s no basis for policy, no basis for your statement.
[Joshua Thomas] Well, Senator, we do have that.
[Malcolm Roberts] Good. I’d like to see it.
[Joshua Thomas] Well, it’s in the Outlook Report, is the short answer.
[Malcolm Roberts] Can you give me the page, please.
[Joshua Thomas] Sorry?
[Malcolm Roberts] Can you give me the specific page of the specific effect of carbon dioxide? To make a policy and a statement on a position statement such as Mr. Thomas has made, we need the specific link between amount of carbon dioxide and impact on those various climate factors. I want to know where it is.
[Joshua Thomas] So, Senator, that’s not one piece of work. The impact of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases on our atmosphere, the greenhouse effect that they have warming our atmosphere, obviously that’s global research. As the atmosphere warms, the ocean warms. That means the Great Barrier Reef warms. The Great Barrier Reef is approximately 0.9 of a degree warmer than it was about a century ago.
[Malcolm Roberts] I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in the human cause. I want to see the link, the quantified link. Because until you provide that, there’s no basis for Dr. Thomas’s position statement. I want to know the link.
[Joshua Thomas] Yes, Senator, there is a basis for that position statement.
[Malcolm Roberts] I’d like to see it then.
[Joshua Thomas] Well, Senator, it’s present in a vast body of global science summarised by-
[Malcolm Roberts] So you can’t give me a specific link to that policy?
[Joshua Thomas] Well, Senator.
[David Wachenfeld] The policy, yes, Senator. I’ve got it right here.
[Malcolm Roberts] Specific quantified link stating carbon dioxide from human activity.
[Joshua Thomas] Dr. Wachenfeld has tried to answer your question. The Outlook Report is our best digest of the information available to us about the pressures on the Great Barrier Reef, of which we see climate change as being the greatest. That report has some 1400 citations in it. We’d be very happy to point them out to you here this evening in the back of that document, or separately provide them on notice to you.
[Malcolm Roberts] I just want the specific, I just want the specific interest.
[Whish-Wilson] This is the elbow we’re talking about. It might be very different than Senator Roberts’s ward.
[Roberts] So what-
[Chair] Senator. Senator Whish-Wilson, Senator Whish-Wilson. You do not have the call. Can I suggest that you do take that on notice? I think what Senator Roberts is after, is a worked example of one of those pieces of work that demonstrates the linkage he’s talking about. Could I ask you perhaps to take that on notice if that answers your question?
[Malcolm Roberts] Sure. And I’ll make the comment, Chair, that when people align or smear, it indicates they don’t have the evidence. So that’s… Not accusing you of doing that by the way.
[Joshua Thomas] I rest my case.
[Malcolm Roberts] So are you aware that Liberal, Labor and National Party MPs have told me that they have never seen such evidence for the Reef nor for climate generally? Are you aware?
[Joshua Thomas] No. Senator, I’m not aware of what other politicians have told you. Sorry.
[Malcolm Roberts] Are you aware that the Howard-Anderson government introduced a renewable energy target that is now gutting our electricity sector, stole farmers property rights to comply with the UN’s gear of protocols, and was the first major party to introduce a carbon dioxide tax?
[Chair] Senator Whish-Wilson.
[Whish-Wilson] You live in-
[Chair] Senator Whish-Wilson. Interjections are disorderly. And Senator Roberts, can I ask you to come to the point on relevant questions that the officials can answer without long preambles. The hour is late and we have another two sections to get through.
[Malcolm Roberts] So on notice you’re gonna provide the evidence. What I highlight, is that I need the specific quantified relationship between human carbon dioxide production and climate factors, including air temperature, ocean temperature, ocean alkalinity, winds, and currents. Is that clear?
[Joshua Thomas] Well, Senator, I should just point out here. We will provide that information to you. We may need to consult other portfolios-
[Malcolm Roberts] Happy to hear that.
[Joshua Thomas] And other experts who have the Commonwealth lead on climate policy.
[Chair] Thank you, Senator Roberts.
[Malcolm Roberts] Thank you very much, Chair.
