Greenhouse Mafia
"Greenhouse Mafia" is the title of a TV program aired by Australian network
Research by Pearse
According to the research of Pearse,
According to Pearse, the consequence of the "Greenhouse Mafia" having this access is that those within groups lobbying for unrestricted greenhouse gas emissions have been able to ensure that government ministers hear mostly matching advice from their own departmental officials. Pearse says that this influence is entrenched to such an extent that fossil fuel industry lobby groups have actually been writing Australia's greenhouse policy at least since the Kyoto Protocol in 1998, and probably even before John Howard became Prime Minister in 1996.
Four Corners program
The "Greenhouse Mafia" episode of Four Corners begins by reviewing the evidence Pearse assembled during his PhD research, and questions a political science academic, a senior federal bureaucrat, the Federal Environment Minister and a representative of the industry peak body, the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, about their responses to Pearse's allegations.
The episode then moves onto a series of interviews with climate scientists who currently or formerly worked for CSIRO. One of these scientists, the former CSIRO Climate Director and Chief of Atmospheric Research, Dr Graeme Pearman, alleges that scientists at CSIRO were instructed by management that they were not permitted to speak publicly on the policy implications of climate change, and that he had been repeatedly censored in the years immediately preceding his forced redundancy from CSIRO in 2004.
Another former CSIRO scientist, Barney Foran, recounts an incident in August 2005, when, after giving a few radio interviews about ethanol, he received a phone call from a staff member in CSIRO's corporate centre who claimed to be passing on a direct request from the Prime Minister's Department that "They'd really appreciate it if you didn't say anything about ethanol." Dr Foran and Dr Pearman argue that the Howard Federal Government was sensitive to CSIRO scientists placing government policies on climate change in an unfavorable light. They also claim that the censorship of their views in recent years was completely unlike anything they had experienced in over thirty years working for the organisation.
Clive Hamilton's perspective
Following the "Greenhouse Mafia" report by Four Corners, a talk was given on 20 February 2006 by
Later publications
In July 2007, Pearse released his own book on the subject,
Pearse and Hamilton have cited various examples of "Greenhouse Mafia" influence on the Howard government's response to Climate Change. One of the best documented examples involved a group called the Lower Emissions Technology Advisory Group (LETAG). Reports of a secret meeting of the group with
Media references
- Geoffrey Barker, journalist and author, made mention of the Four Corners "Greenhouse Mafia" program in relation to a discussion on the politicisation of the Australian public service.[6]
See also
References
- ^ "Transcript of Janine Cohen's report "The Greenhouse Mafia"". Four Corners. 13 February 2006. Retrieved 21 January 2007.
- ^ "carbon dioxide emissions (CO2), metric tons of CO2 per capita (CDIAC)". Millennium Development Goals Indicators. United Nations Statistics Division. Archived from the original on 17 March 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- Australia Institute. 20 February 2006. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 January 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2007.
- ^ PM called talks to derail renewable energy The Age, 3 October 2004
- ^ "Minutes of a meeting of the Low Emissions Technology Advisory Group (LETAG) with the Australian Government" (PDF). 6 May 2004. Retrieved 21 January 2007.
- ^ "Canberra: Politicisation of the public service". Late Night Live. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
External links
- Guy Pearse's book - High & Dry: John Howard, Climate Change and the Selling of Australia's Future
- The Greenhouse Mafia, official Four Corners page (transcript)
- "Silencing the critics" (The Age) and "The repression of the bleeding hearts" (Sydney Morning Herald). Articles by Sarah Maddison and Clive Hamiltonin Fairfax press newspapers appearing on 27 January 2007.
- "Campaign to discredit wind blows to NSW" and "It's an ill wind ...", 19 May 2006. Two Sydney Morning Herald articles about the involvement of climate change deniersand the nuclear industry in campaigns to discredit wind power.