Tony Abbott being wrong - again - on Lateline - November, 2009

This is Tony Abbott's appearance on the ABC's Lateline from 19 November, 2009.

A week after this interview, Tony Abbott resigned from the Opposition Frontbench and two weeks later, he became the leader of the Liberal Party.

This interview is interesting because Tony Abbott was in the middle of his "climate change denial" phase (which he seems to flash back to every few weeks) and in this interview in tries to explain that the earth is cooling according to him and the Hadley Institute.

Tony Jones counters with some facts from the Hadley Institute and then Tony Abbott realises he's been caught out showing either his stupidity, or his complete ignorance.

If you feel like skipping through, the transcript below starts around 5 minutes 45 seconds into this video.

TONY JONES: What evidence do you have then for saying that the earth has cooled since the late 1990s.

TONY ABBOTT: Well, I am not setting myself up as the great expert here, but the Hadley Institute in Britain, which is apparently one of the most reputable of these measuring centres, according to press reports, has found that after heating up very significantly in the previous 25 years, there seems to have been a slight cooling, but at a high plateau I'll accept that.

TONY JONES: That is Ian Plimer's argument. So when you actually go...

TONY ABBOTT: This is the Hadley Centre - this is measurements.

TONY JONES: I'm about to tell you what the Hadley Centre actually says. When you go and look at what it says about global temperatures you'll find that they say that the years 1998 to 2006 include the hottest, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth and the sixth hottest years in recorded history.

TONY ABBOTT: And the hottest one was at the beginning and the less hot ones have been since.

TONY JONES: According to the Hadley Centre's mean temperature data, 1998 was, as you say, the hottest year on record - 2005 was the second hottest year on record. The third hottest year on record since 1880 - since recorded temperatures were made - is 2003, the fourth 2002, the fifth 2004.

TONY ABBOTT: Okay, fair enough Tony, but the fact of the matter is what should we do about this? Now...

TONY JONES: You're the one that quoted the Hadley Centre. And are you aware for example that the latest modelling of the Hadley Centre released only two months ago, warns that their scientists, using their data, and projecting it with computers are now saying...

TONY ABBOTT: The Hadley Centre are climate change believers. I didn't' say that they were climate change deniers. I didn't want them hauled up before the witch hunt or the inquisition.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2008/s2748161.htm

NOTE: For some reason, the page shows up as the wrong date in the above URL - this is Lateline's mistake.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• tony
• abbott
• liberals
• fool
• idiot
• wouldn't
• have
• clue
• if
• it
• fell
• on
• him
• from
• above

[MrPurplefood]

@phonytonyabbott

i understand what you are saying, i mean i was an avid believer of global warming a few years ago, but then i had to do a couple of reports on then, and i discovered the other side of the argument. i watched a documentary called 'the great global warming swindle'. if you are interested in hearing the other side this is a good doco. it has many top scientists from NASA, MIT etc, it was interesting for me just to see the other side other then politisied by the media.

[phonytonyabbott]

@MrPurplefood - Yeah, I've seen that doco as well plus a few others (covering both sides).

I'm still not swayed strongly by either side, but in saying that, I put my faith in what the majority of scientists are saying, but I will also continue to question the arguments from both sides.

Climate Change has turned into a big money spinner for people from both sides of the debate - for example, Al Gore and Christopher Monckton.

Both, in my opinion, have stretched the truth for profit.

[MrPurplefood]

@phonytonyabbott

It is very convenient for politicians and profiteers to blame c02 for changes in our climate who are intent of gaining for their own financial well-being, not pointing at anyone in perticular. The climate is changing is continuing to change but not through human made c02, but through natural phenomina, e.g. the sun. I find it interesting that people who can't predict the weather next tuesday can predict with absolute certainty that the climate will be hotter in 50 years.

[phonytonyabbott]

@MrPurplefood [part 2] - Basically, I apply the same general rule that I use when I put my faith in my doctor to do the right thing for me.

Yes, they don't always get things right, but for the most part, they do.

At the end of the day, we all have to have faith in those who have knowledge in certain areas of science/health/government/poli­ce etc etc.

And we all know they occasionally get things wrong - but they also get things right.

[phonytonyabbott]

@MrPurplefood [part 1] - in fairness to the weather bureau, they aren't necessarily climate change scientists, and vice versa.

As for climate change, I'll be honest - I have no idea whether or not it is real or not.

But what I do, however, is listen to those scientists who know a lot more about it than I do, to decide whether it's really a problem or not.

At the moment, I'm inclined to believe them, but I also keep my eyes open (like we all should in general life).

[wyramdindi]

Fuck get me a debate with this retard, they should have more scientists as politicians, why should fucking idiots that have no idea what they're talking about waste valuable TV time talking about a subject that they are clearly not educated on?

[wyramdindi]

you're a deadbeat tony abbot, how can you compare the carbon trade to the gst, collapse of communism?? its still going strong you nugget!