Heads must roll at JCU or academics still have no free speech

After what Peter Ridd went through, and the flagrant waste of one million dollars, someone must be held accountable. Otherwise, no academic would want to risk two years of legal hell for pointing out systematic problems in academia. Who would dare drily write “for your amusement” in an email?

Its good to see other staff are speaking up.  Sandra Harding is vice-chancellor of James Cook University. She could have stopped the witchhunt at any time but pursued it all the way:

Janet Albrechtsen, The Australian

“The bottom line is Sandra Harding should go,” says a former member of the university’s 15-member governing council. “It’s in the interest of everybody that she retires.” Speaking to The Weekend Australian this week, the former council member says if Harding doesn’t retire, she should be sacked.

Still in close contact with JCU staff, including academics, the former council member says staff are upset and “whether or not they agree with Ridd is a separate matter. This court case probably cost the university a million bucks, which is money JCU cannot afford.”

“They know that there will be further redundancies coming.”

Ultimately some staff will lose  jobs because JCU tried to silence Ridd.

According to the ex-member, the other reason the governing council should be more involved is that “the sacking of Ridd is being watched around the world. It is damaging JCU’s reputation in an area where JCU leads the world. In marine science, JCU is the top dog. To have that reputation damaged is extraordinarily worrying.”

According to the former member of JCU’s governing council, Ridd has more support on campus than he realises…”

H/t Jim Simpson

9.5 out of 10 based on 124 ratings

166 comments to Heads must roll at JCU or academics still have no free speech

  • #
    Graeme No.3

    Typical bureaucratic behaviour:

    Get rid of perceived trouble maker.
    Hope he/she will just go away, but if they don’t, then dig in your heels.
    Spend lots of government money on lawyers.
    When you lose the case refuse to back down, and spend more in vain atempt to stop bad publicity.
    Blame everyone except yourself for the adverse reaction.

    730

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      Graeme No.3

      I see it as being somewhat broader than just bureaucratic behaviour.

      It looks more generally like totalitarianism. One can observe it not only in bureaucracy but in the Greens, in the left wing of the Labor party, in GetUp! and in the left wing media – such as the ABC, the Guardian and so on. It manifests itself in various different ways, but it’s always about power, control and in the end, money.

      The strategy is always the same, although the tactics vary. Its the allegation of “sexism” here and “homophobia there, of “xenophobia”, or “racism” or “denier” or de-platforming, or just “dumb knuckle dragger” abuse when they’ve run out of “isms”. It includes all the PC pejoratives to try to close down the debate. It goes even further when they try to use employees “terms of employment” to shut people up.

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      • #
        Komrade Kuma

        It looks like just more managerialism which is totalitarianism applied to corporate administration, i.e. ‘locally’ instead of ‘globally’ to the society. In essence it is the same but perhaps just with the option of the professional death penalty rather than the actual death penalty.

        The process model ooks the same, down to the lack of due process let alone just or reasonable outcome.

        The rationale looks the same, the protection of the status, standing and tenure of those in charge.

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Academia schmacademia:

      Sixteen-year-old Swedish Pippi Longstocking, who failed physics, chemistry, biology, geology, oceanography, meteorology, and history, to be soon honoured as “Dr” Greta.

      http://brusselstimes.com/belgium/15665/university-of-mons-to-honor-greta-thunberg,-nicolas-hulot,-nicolas-terne

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      • #
        PeterPetrum

        Absolutely ridiculous! This young girl is being exposed to child abuse, in my opinion. Her parents have been using her to channel their own twisted and unscientific opinions on the global warming boondoggle. She is going to come down with an awful thump one day when she finds out that the world has moved on and nobody cares what she thinks, or even remembers who she is was.

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        • #
          Mary E

          The whole use of children in the CAGW noise is very troublesome to me. Too much, far too much, like the youth corps of various failed regimes, an indoctrination of the most vulnerable by the politicals – in this case, the CAGW extremists. It isn’t about the planet, it is about who gets to run it and profit from running it. And later, what happens to these children when the world is either catapulted back in to the 18th century or – what I prefer – the CAGW meme collapses and the politicos get the boot? A short lifespan of hard labor, or broken ideals and anger at those who led them on, lied to them, made them fear the future? Either way the children will have paid a price in trust that will never be regained. Science, true science, may become a bogey-man, mistrusted and disliked, maybe feared.

          And this brings up a rant about things the children aren’t told, to whit:

          First, before the ranting, I must say – I don’t doubt there are a few well-meaning scientists and other types who see a need for changes in how the world’s resources are used and abused. It is nice to know you can drink the water, breathe the air, even reduce the amount of fuel needed to heat and cool the homes and businesses – no matter where you live.

          But, for the most part, I believe the “green” movement has gotten overly political, a power grab using “science” as its modus. The more I learn the more I don’t like, this tearing down of all modern industrial society to create a (workers’) paradise – something that has never worked out in all the places that have tried it. And the biggest losers are those who have already lost in the race to riches, the 3rd world nations who are plundered and then ignored when the resources run dry or become too expensive to extract or unnecessary.

          And the abuse of lands and people just takes a new turn, green-lighted by the needs of the CAGW elite – rubber plantations of old gave way to better, cheaper alternatives, but now we have palm oil and corn wreaking havoc on the world, bringing about the tearing down of old forest (and removing the habitat of endangered species, who will die out not due to climate but fighting climate, irony with your meal, sir?) and the draining of immense and ancient aquifers for what? Something to burn that isn’t oil pumped from the ground. All of which which will wither, like the rubber plantations, when a new “renewable” resource crops up – bio-engineered algae, perhaps. Need another wind farm? How about batteries for the wind-powered enviro-friendly cars, mowers, planes, toys? Look to China for the rare earths in bulk at prices that make it affordable, and look at what China has done to her land extracting them. Far worse pollution than any coal mine or oil well, and say thank you to those who are dying an early death thanks to the poisons they work in, live in, breath and eat and drink.

          And the new “Green” is a far cry from the idea of ecological and environmental stewardship that I knew and followed long ago – in the US it was “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute” – but now cooking a meal is suspect (eating beef?! burning fossil fuel!?) while piles of trash still accumulate along the roads; it’s taken the idea of cleaning up our mess to an extreme while still leaving a mess; the mess we see is nothing compared to that which we can’t see, which is a slight elevation in a natural and necessary gas – where even mother nature is a polluter. The new “Green” vision seems to be a world where, aside from a few elites, mankind must be reduced to a scrabbling, hairless monkey eking out a living and ensuring the continuance of the lifestyle of the elite who saved us all from ourselves.

          Leave the children alone, quit using them to further selfish ends, quit lying to them in the hopes of winning a war of propaganda and exaggerated fears, that’s my plea.

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          • #
            Mary E

            Oops, sorry – thought I was in the unthreaded weekend, didn’t mean to intrude on the JCU Gate thread.

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          • #
            Analitik

            The use of children to pull on heartstrings tells me that the CAGW cabal are getting desperate that the masses are now seeing through or at least starting to ignore their messages of doom. It’s a Hail Mary move to try and maintain relevance in the political spectrum as the masses are feeling the pinch of (well overdue) global economic contraction and want to get on with their lives.

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    • #
      george1st:)

      Indeed , lets have a JCU/gate . Imagine how many emails have been lost or deleted .

      30

  • #
    Robdel

    Who says that JCU is top dog, given what has transpired?

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    • #
      Analitik

      Top dog in misleading studies to promote the concept of “ocean acidification”. The damage to their reputation in marine science should help in undermining the credibility that has been assigned to this rubbish.

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    • #
      Allen Ford

      Top dog? More like Mickey Mouse!

      30

  • #
    Robdel

    Who says that JCU is top dog, given what has transpired?

    70

    • #
      Another Ian

      JCU obviously

      160

    • #
      el gordo

      Its a fall from grace for JCU, but if that is what it takes to clear the decks of this green scum, then its inevitable because human induced CO2 doesn’t bleach coral.

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    • #
      george1st:)

      JCU are the top dogs in promoting the climate change damage to the GBR and of course getting large grants to do so . P.Ridd questioned their science and consequently had to be silenced .

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Perhaps a rallying cry for academic freedom could be

        “Remember Ridd.”

        Or

        “Ridd was Rutherglenned”

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  • #
    TdeF

    Sandra Harding is the problem. She assumed Professor Ridd would be squashed like a bug, regardless of right or wrong and his rights as an employee
    let alone as a researcher. She presumed Ridd would crumble and if nothing else, could not afford or handle the legal battle and $250,000 in cash to fight for the truth.
    She was wrong on all counts. It was not just un Australian, it was the work of an uncaring tyrant. Thousands of real Australians rallied to his cause and to my amazement,
    he won on all counts but she will not concede. She is prepared now to spend another million of our money attacking his right to employment and free speech.

    Now the whole world is looking at the quality of research at JCU and Head of Physics, Professor Ridd’s damning assessment of their science and the Universities response to fair and reasonable criticism.

    A modern businesswoman with absolute power and little or even no accountability, access to millions without question and total contempt for her employees, her attempt to shut him up, intimidate him, cause personal stress on a cataclysmic scale is reprehensible and continuing. It is a battle the staff of JCU and the Education Unions should have been fighting, but they were nowhere to be seen. Too intimidated. Then there is the Turnbull gift of 7 1/2 tons of gold to ‘fix’ something which is not broken. What a dilemma! The truth or the hundreds of millions to continue the story of the reef under dire threat.

    However, if nothing else, the modern university is also a giant business and she is destroying enrolments, reputations and basic confidence in JCU research and science much more than Professor Ridd’s comments could ever have done. The business of JCU is being killed off to indulge her ego. Plummeting enrolments marks the beginning of the end for a small regional university with a plummeting reputation despite being opposite the world’s biggest coral reef. All to stop the truth coming out.

    For the sake of everyone, she must go. Why aren’t the Labor Education unions behind Professor Ridd? Why did he have to appeal to the public? Why aren’t the staff of JCU in revolt?
    Because man made Global Warming is Union policy and they need their jobs too. Who cares about science?

    After this election and no Labor seats North of Brisbane, perhaps Labor will change their tune on JCU as they have on Adani? Peter Ridd raised his money in days. They cannot destroy him financially and he is too tough personally. That was unexpected. His fund raising was the best poll of public opinion you could get. Not just a vote, people voted with their cash. The people of Australia want the truth, not lies from JCU, Labor and the Unions. We, the people, want the truth. No matter how inconvenient.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Their treatment of Peter Ridd shouldn’t be forgotten; I assume that personal e-mails on a Corporation site are fair game, but they seem to have been searching hard for an excuse. Then there is their treatment of him for what wasn’t much of an embarrassment, i.e. offering moderate statements on a site that could be dismissed as biased (unlike the ABC, the SMH and The Guardian and sundry web-sites which could be relied on to ride to the ‘rescue’) and could well have been blotted out by propaganda.
      Then there is the problem that one of the ex-researchers had been proved to be a weak link (one paper removed and 2 other being queried) – and leaving the profession – so they delayed the start of any investigation for over a year.
      The latter alone would raise a few eyebrows overseas.
      Then there is the big problem that all their predictions of the end of the Great Barrier Reef have proven false.

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    • #
      Reed Coray

      TdeF–Outstanding summary.

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    • #
      Komrade Kuma

      From her JCU web page ‘bio’, Sandra Harding is “An economic sociologist by training, her areas of enduring academic interest include work, organisation and markets and how they work.”

      An “economic sociologist”, eh?

      Wikipedia

      “Frequent areas of inquiry in contemporary economic sociology include the social consequences of economic exchanges, the social meanings they involve and the social interactions they facilitate or obstruct.”

      “Economic sociology is an attempt by sociologists to redefine in sociological terms questions traditionally addressed by economists.”

      So if something or someone upsets your little applecart, destroy them. Not sure I can make the connection myself in philosophical terms by my inner knuckle dragging, neanderthal hillbilly understands where the instinct comes from. It is much the same as if your wife upsets you then break her jaw, throw her on the street with accusations of infidelity or even kill her. (Sorry for the brutal imagery but I think it fits)

      That a female behaves the way Harding has way says a lot about the effect of power and corruption or maybe she is really a socialist economist and is just going under a different ‘trading name’.

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    • #
      PeterPetrum

      Agree with all that, TdeF, except that it was not just Australians who rallied round, but a large number of international donors too. Thank you to everybody who donated to this great cause and to the outcome that has shaken JCU and many other tertiary establishments.

      I hope that the Treasurer or new Environment or Education Minister steps in and prevents any appeal.

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      • #
        TdeF

        Yes, apologies and many thanks to the people around the world who rallied to cause of truth and justice. When you appreciate the judge did not decide on the truth and only decided that JCU had no grounds at all to fire someone who had been promised freedom of speech, the other question of what he said is still unexamined. That is why he had to be removed and that needs to be addressed.

        What is very different about Universities in Australia is that they almost all are State funded. Education, police, health are still State exclusive areas although ‘gifts’ from the Commonwealth are usual and make it look like the control is Federal. It isn’t. Anyone seeing the abuse of power and the spending of millions of State and Federal public money to justify something which is not justifiable in the opinion of a judge should themselves be examined.

        Why isn’t that happening? How can a State Government allow this to continue? After the ‘shocking’ election result, the Queensland Labor government needs to take a real interest in fixing the problems in the James Cook University administration. Freedom of speech is an essential right in a democracy. It is not however part of any Labor or Green platform. Any attempt to disagree is called ‘hate speech’ and you are prosecuted. This will keep Labour out of power forever.

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  • #
    Lionell Griffith

    They will always overreach. One of their most fundamental beliefs is that reality is defined by them. Following that is that reality had better cooperate or else!

    Yet, reality continues to be exactly what it is. They are at war with reality. That leads to their ultimate demise because it is a war that cannot be won.

    The challenge is to survive the chaos they generate by holding that which is false as being true. That their arbitrary diktats are felt by them as mandatory commands to all but their favored inner group. Fall they will. We just need to hang on during the very rough ride to their bitter end.

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  • #
    Bill in Oz

    I rad Janet Albrechtson’s article in the Weekend Australian.
    It was an excellent in-depth article.
    This female Vice Chancellor’s head is now on the block
    For destroying her own university’s academic
    And scientific reputation.

    I suspect that is why she wants to appeal
    Judge Vasta’s judgement.
    It’s the only way she will get out of this
    Without losing her job and her perks as VC of JCU.

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    • #
      David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

      Has an appeal been lodged already? And has the judge handed down his penalties from the original case?
      Cheers
      Dave B

      40

      • #
        PeterPetrum

        I do not think so, to both issues. Peter Ridd is keeping all those who donated up-to-date with happenings and he has not reported any such action yet.

        50

    • #
      Lewis P Buckingham

      Having read that article those are my thoughts also.
      There seems a great delay on a decision.
      Where right is on your side or you have an indication of a good win, then the immediate press release is ‘we will appeal’.
      Apart from a weak rebuttal reiterating an overturned opinion, nothing has come from this administration pertaining to an appeal.
      Perhaps there are negotiations going on behind the scenes.
      In the meanwhile, I feel another GoFundMe coming on.

      30

  • #
    NB

    Oh, that is hilarious. Staff don’t want money spent on court cases. They’d prefer it spent on them. Well, tough. I say give the money to the lawyers in endless sure-loss cases. Why not? At least we get a few useful outcomes in the law, rather than endless bumpf from academics.

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    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      🙂

      Now you’re talking.

      At least the cash paid to lawyers gets taxed.

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        I propose a new phrase of “Rutherglen-ning” someone.

        Removing freedoms under CAGW lunacy = “homogenization” of academics.

        The greenist catch-cry : “We are the Borg, resistance is futile”

        50

  • #
    ralf ellis

    .
    This has happened so many times before, that the university thought they were untouchable. The BBC did exactly the same to David Bellamy, who was the UK’s best loved environmentalist. The message was clear – if a high ranking TV personality like Bellamy can be sacked, then every lowly researcher in a university had better keep their head down and not say anything controversial.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2266188/David-Bellamy-The-BBC-froze-I-dont-believe-global-warming.html

    But the rules of engagement have changed – we now have international interest and support. I am in the UK, but was able to read about this case in real time, and donate 100 GBP to the cause. And it worked – the JCU had no idea that support would be widespread and their position exposed as untenable.

    They are probably in shock right now. They live in a Green Bubble that told them they were being virtuous in sacking a heretic, and not once stood back to see the error of their ways and arguments. The sky is falling on their heads right now, and they don’t know what to do.

    Same with the BBC which is haemorrhaging viewers, who at last have the ultimate weapon – not paying the licence fee (the TV tax) that allowed the BBC to ignore the people (they were financially independent of their viewers). But now we have Netflix. And so you can claim you are a Netflix viewer and raise two fingers to the BBC, and never pay their despised tax again. Yet the BBC are in denial – they still think everyone loves them – as their viewers and tax payers leave in droves…..!

    Ralph

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    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Good point: the elites have used the blunt weapon of process to prevent criticism.

      The people now understand that this is wrong and will likely fund any and all future challenges that push back against this poorly disguised self interest.

      Eventually we may get our country back.

      KK

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    • #
      yarpos

      JCU is in a double bubble, cloistered academia overlayed by arrogant Green. The real world, as they percieve it, must be terrifying.

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Bellamy was pretty honest and not extreme.

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  • #
    Kinky Keith

    So obvious that all along this has been a Political Event which was entirely inappropriate in a university.

    The person who oversaw this needs to face the consequences of endorsing something so totally out of place.

    KK

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  • #
    Serge Wright

    The broader issue is the hard left contagion that has spread through all our public universities over the past decade. Left wing ideology has zero tolerance for other thoughts or ideas and instead of teaching, our universities are now preaching a hate fuelled propaganda against western civilisation, capitalism and white skinned people.

    If there is one ray of hope in the Peter Ridd case, it is the great irony that this offending university sits within the largest zone of now angry conservative voters. A group that have lost patience with the selfish and hypocritical elite ruling class of the left and can see through this thinly veiled alarmism that is aimed at extracting ever increasing sums of taxpayer cash at the expense of everyone else.

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  • #

    Academics exempt from the Hammurabi Code of the bridge builder having to sleep under his own bridge – yr Joseph Stiglitz giving the okay to Fanny Mae and its economic consequences, yr Paul Ehrlich promoting that fear stampede to costly, phantasmagoria Global Doomsday Policies, yr academic highly-paid leadership absconding the responsibility of safe guarding the research commitment to Nullius in Verba… Say, I could ‘almost’ favour beheadin’.

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  • #
    WXcycles

    Bottomline is are students actually going to be presented with unbiased objective science facts and analysis now? Or will it remain tainted? And are researchers and staff going to be free to question ‘expert’ or otherwise ‘officially’ presented claims that run contrary to the science, and the observations, and logic?

    That’s where the rubber meets the road for JCU. If it can not quickly come fully up to snuff it would only be fair that it loses national and international credibility, if it can’t meet the minimum standards of acceptable institutional practices.

    I agree that one of the best ways of signalling more widely and also locally that a genuine change is occurring is to jettison upper administration and board procrastinators who contributed to the odious situation that has developed.

    I don’t see how else they expect to move on.

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  • #
    PeterS

    Face reality. Nothing will change in the ivory towers of academia. If it did they would have to retract thousands of papers supporting the CAGW myth and sack thousands of scientists. It ain’t going to happen, not soon anyway.

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  • #
    MichaelinBrisbane

    Let’s not forget Bob Carter who got the same treatment, but sadly is not with us now to be part of this fight against alarmism.

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  • #
    tom0mason

    “The bottom line is Sandra Harding should go,” says a former member of the university’s 15-member governing council. “It’s in the interest of everybody that she retires.” Speaking to The Weekend Australian this week, the former council member says if Harding doesn’t retire, she should be sacked.

    Sandra Harding is the scapegoat ready for chucking, or should that be?
    Should not ALL of the university’s 15-member governing council be held accountable? Should not all 15 have to be reappraised not only on this matter but on how they are governing, should they not ALL be sacked and have to reapply for their jobs?
    If they are all found to be ‘bad apples’ so be it, a new broom might be what’s needed.

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    • #
      Peter C

      In the last government the minister for education was Simon Birmingham. I wrote to him about the Ridd case and received a reply. Birmingham decided to take a “hands off the wheel approach”.

      I might try again with the new minister, when he/she is appointed. I like the Trump approach. No free speech on campus/ No federal money!

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    • #
      StephenP

      The whole governing council should be made to reapply for their own jobs, as happens in businesses.
      At their interview they should be asked why they remained mute when Peter Ridd was being mistreated.

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      • #
        bullocky

        ‘At their interview they should be asked why they remained mute when Peter Ridd was being mistreated.’

        Yes, and additionally, they should be required to provide position statements (for publication) on;
        – Agenda 21
        – Post Normal Science
        – the potential for corruption in the Anonymous Peer Review system

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        • #
          theRealUniverse

          Anonymous Peer Review system , that in itself is corruption, money for the boys / girls if the tow the line in their research. Any peers should HAVE to justify their analysis of any presented paper independently bias free. (not going to happen soon)

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      • #
        John in Oz

        “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― attributed to Edmund Burke

        A major contributor to the actions taken against Peter Ridd and many others has been the silence of others.

        Even in this article, there are several utterings from an ‘ex-member’ of the council. Who is it? What are there credentials? What did they do about the situation? Without knowing who they are we cannot be expected to place any value on the statements attributed to them.

        It is a standard ploy by those claiming that the world as we know it is ending to claim that ‘scientists tell us’ and ‘the science is clear’ without specifying which scientists or which science (paper/proof) they are referring to.

        As noted above, there are, apparently, 15 members on the JCU council and the VICE chancellor ran rough-shod over them. All of them are complicit in this matter as well as the politicians that are supposed to be the final arbiters of how these institutions operate as they are providing so much public funds to the universities.

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    • #
      Gaz

      Should not be given the chance to retire – should be given the equivalent of a dishonourable discharge without references

      20

  • #
    Gerry, England

    If it brings the collapse of JCU then it will be a good thing and may even act as a warning to others if they are not too thick to comprehend. It may be that there is some good at JCU but ‘the good is oft interred with their bones’.

    Sandra Harding should be sacked before she can resign. She needs to suffer disgrace.

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  • #
    pat

    some brilliant comments.
    who is Sandra Harding?

    JCU: Biography: Professor Sandra Harding AO BSc (Hons) ANU, MPubAdmin UQ, PhD NCSU, Hon Doc JIU, FACE, FQA, FAICD, FAIM
    Professor Sandra Harding AO, took up her appointment as Vice Chancellor and President of James Cook University Australia in January 2007. In this role, she is responsible for ensuring clear and effective leadership and management of the University across all operating sites, including campuses in Cairns, Singapore and Townsville.

    Educated at the Australian National University, The University of Queensland and North Carolina State University (USA), Professor Harding has extensive academic and academic leadership experience. An economic sociologist by training, her areas of enduring academic interest include work, organisation and markets and how they work. She also has a keen interest in public policy in two key areas: education policy and related areas; and; the global Tropics, northern Australia and economic development…

    Current roles include: Project Convener, State of the Tropics project; Commissioner, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR); Member, North Queensland Defence Advisory Board; Member, Performance Based Funding Expert Panel providing advice to the Minister for Education on the design of a performance-based funding scheme for the Commonwealth Grant Scheme; Member, Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Board; Director, Australian American Education Leadership Foundation; Councillor, Queensland Futures Institute; Co-Vice Chair, the New Colombo Plan Reference Group; Council Member, the Australian Institute of Marine Science; Director, North Queensland Cowboys NRL club; Director of Townsville Enterprise and of Advance Cairns (regional economic development bodies); and; a Governor of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA)…

    Previous external roles include: Chair, Australian Bureau of Statistics Independent Assurance Panel on 2016 Census of Population and Housing data; Director, Regional Australia Institute; Member, National Research Infrastructure Roadmap Expert Working Group; Director, Westpac Bicentennial Foundation Board; Member, the Australia-China Council Board; Member, Trade, Tourism and Investment Policy Advisory Council; Member of the Australian Government’s Research Policy and Funding Working Group (assisting Dr Ian Watt AO); Member of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) Advisory Board; Member, Northern Australia Advisory Group (advising the Prime Minister); Chair, Universities Australia; Member, International Education and Training Advisory Council Queensland; Member, Australian Research Council (ARC) Advisory Board; Commissioner, Queensland Independent Commission of Audit (March 2012- February 2013); Australia’s representative on the University Grants Commission for the University of the South Pacific; Chair of the Australian Statistics Advisory Council; Member of the HIH Assessment Review Panel; Board member, Skills Queensland; Board member of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council; Chairman of Brisbane Marketing Pty Ltd; Director of the Australian Institute for Commercialisation; Director of the Global Foundation for Management Education Ltd (Montreal); Chair, Innovative Research Universities (an alliance of seven Australian universities: Charles Darwin, Griffith, La Trobe, Flinders, Murdoch, Newcastle and James Cook universities); Inaugural President of the Australian Business Deans Council; Vice-President of the Australian Universities Community Engagement Alliance…

    In January 2019, Professor Harding was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day 2019 honours list for her distinguished service to education at the national and international level, and to the community of Queensland.
    Professor Harding is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian College of Educators, Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.
    https://www.jcu.edu.au/office-of-the-vice-chancellor-and-president/biography

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    • #
      Bill in Oz

      So bloody what !
      The new minister for education can cancel most of those appointments
      the Commonwealth government the rest.
      And should

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      • #
        yarpos

        Bit puzzled how a BSc from ANU leads you into a soft are like “economic sociology” Careers do take interesting twists and turns.

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        • #
          theRealUniverse

          MPubAdmin UQ = masters in public administration UQ. = maters in bureaucracy. Basically BIG administrators, the rest of her appointments look like running committees.

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    • #
      Reed Coray

      I agree Pat. The comments as of the submission of this comment are exceptionally good. They should be forwarded to JCU university as examples of a determined but polite summary of where JCU stands and where it might be headed.

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    • #
      EternalOptimist

      looks like she had her hair bleached

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      yarpos

      So , never left the bubble of academia then? No wonder events outside in the real world, like court cases, are so problematic.

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    • #

      Whew. I’ve just been adding all Sandra’s gigs to my list of useless government and quasi-government boondoggles. Quite a job.

      I’ll leave the Qld Cowboys off the list…for now.

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      • #
        yarpos

        Must be hard for one to find times to do one’s main job, actually running a University competently.

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    pat

    I realise the following has been commented on in the previous thread, but here’s the detail:

    1 Apr: Qld Govt: Media Statements: Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Minister for Science and Minister for the Arts
    The Honourable Leeanne Enoch
    Ms Enoch said action is needed to safeguard Queensland communities and natural assets like the Great Barrier Reef.
    “Science shows climate change is the biggest threat to the Great Barrier Reef, and we have a responsibility to ensure it is protected for future generations.
    “As a proud member of the Under 2 Coalition – a group of sub-national governments committed to keeping global warming to below 2 degrees – the Palaszczuk Government is committed to doing its fair share to meet Australia’s Paris commitments…

    During the week, former US Vice President Al Gore and Climate Reality will host climate leadership training for between 800-1000 business and community leaders from across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
    Professor Don Henry, chair of Climate Reality in Australia and the Pacific – said that this is the first time Nobel Prize winner Mr Gore will do a training on this crucial issue in Queensland and Northern Australia.

    “It is a good opportunity for people from all walks of life to be better informed and act on the solutions needed to tackle climate change,” Professor Henry said.
    “With the Great Barrier Reef threatened by climate change and action needed across the Asia Pacific region, the training will be of global significance.”…
    http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2019/4/1/palaszczuk-government-announces-climate-week-queensland

    7 May: Qld Govt: Climate Week QLD 2019
    The Queensland Government is committed to transitioning the state to a low-carbon, clean growth economy and adapting to the impacts of a changing climate.
    As a part of this commitment, the Queensland Government will host political, business and community representatives from across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region at Queensland’s first ever Climate Week from 2–8 June 2019…

    Activities throughout the week includes a public program of arts, music, and panel discussions, a First Nations Summit, and climate leadership training with former US Vice President Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project ***for between 800 and 1,000 people…

    ***Students from years 3 to 10 are also invited to join the conversation about climate change, with the 2019 Minister’s Climate Challenge…
    https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/climate/climate-change/climate-week

    extremely poorly-designed website:

    Climate Week Queensland
    https://climateweekqld.com/

    perhaps the Premier should cancel the whole show. it’s even more of a farce, given the Qld election results and the Premier’s frantic trip up north.

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    pat

    did Australian taxpayers pay for Stephen Dziedzic to travel to Fiji to cover this already heavily-promoted CAGW story?

    AUDIO: 3min3sec: 24 May: ABC AM: Fijian village fights climate change threats
    By Stephen Dziedzic on AM
    Climate change is stirring anxiety along the coasts of Fiji.
    The Fijian Government says hundreds of villages by the ocean are threatened by rising seas – and some will have to be moved to higher ground.
    But locals in one of the communities thought to be at risk don’t want to leave.
    https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/fijian-village-fights-climate-change-threats/11145252

    27 July 2018: COP23 Fiji
    Media and Climate Change in the Pacific
    With these challenges in mind, a group of ten Pacific island journalists who travelled to COP23 in Bonn, Germany, last November chose to form the Pacific Environment Journalists Network (PEJN) to improve the regional media’s capacity to report on climate change.
    The network, which is supported by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN), was formally launched in Tonga in May and with the support of EJN, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the COP23 Presidency, the network participated in a media workshop in Fiji on the eve of the Climate Action Pacific Partnership Event.
    The workshop — “Strengthening Media Capacity on Climate Change Reporting in the Pacific Islands” — aimed to improve the capacity of journalists to report more accurately and more frequently on climate change.
    30 participants, made up of the journalists from the PEJN as well as other communications professionals from the region, participated in the workshop before attending the CAPP Conference.
    The workshop included a field trip to the Korova Settlement area, where Moce islanders have been resettled. They are some of Fiji’s first climate migrants after they had to leave their island in Lau Group due to rising seas…
    The workshop has resulted in around 40 stories (print, TV, radio and online) by the participants…
    https://cop23.com.fj/media-climate-change-pacific/

    VIDEO: 8min23sec: 12 Sept 2018: The Journey to Korova
    posted by Earth Journalism Network
    Due to the rising seas, Moce Islanders from Lau Group in Fiji have to leave the land their families have lived on for generations. Jared Koli, a journalism student from the ***University of the South Pacific (USP), files this story from his journey to the Korova Settlement in Fiji. This video was produced after the Mobile Reporting Workshop on Environmental Reporting organized recently by the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the USP.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH16ZwVqbJY

    if Jared is/was at the Suva campus, it would have been a short journey. perhaps the students could do something useful like clean up the trash:

    25 Nov 2017: Pacific Standard Mag: The Korova community is made up of Fijians from the island of Moce, who set sail from the far-flung island on traditional canoes and resettled on the outskirts of the capital city in 1991…
    Korova is a 10-minute walk from the Suva campus of the ***University of the South Pacific, down a muddy path that follows the peninsula’s rocky shoreline, strewn with driftwood and trash…
    https://psmag.com/environment/cop23-fiji-frank-bainimarama

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      theRealUniverse

      Fiji is nuts. How will they pay for shifting the villages to higher ground, sell more bananas and coconuts and sugar cane?

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        yarpos

        By going with their hand out to the UN and to regional countries that support the climate cargo cult menatlity. All this is positioning for more free money. Far from a disaster, the whole Climate bandwagon is the best thing that has happened to Pacific Island States in a long time.

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          theRealUniverse

          I think thats about it..free doh ray me from the UN. Look our villages need rebuilding, after letting them run down, thanks for the handout.

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    Bill in Oz

    Fiji is a series of volcanic islands.
    Volcanic islands rise
    Volcanic island s fall.
    The seas are doing very much at all.
    But then their ABC is not interested in the facts
    Only what fairy tale can be spread as propaganda
    About the earth being doomed.
    Dopy buggers

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      John F. Hultquist

      are doing

      are not doing

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      John of Cloverdale, WA, Australia

      Yep, the Pacific Ocean is full of seamounts on the seafloor which were once above sea level. It is to do with the magma chamber underneath and nothing to do with climate change. Fossil beaches exist on the Hawaiian Islands which were once up to 3 metres above current sea levels, over 2000 years ago.

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    Steve Richards

    The “In January 2019, Professor Harding was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day 2019 honours list for her distinguished service to education at the national and international level, and to the community of Queensland.” needs to be revoked asap.

    I had wondered what AO was after her name

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    Geoff Sherrington

    The essential question into the future is: can we now be assured that the quality of Science from JCU about the GBR is of high standard and now free of more accusations of the Prof Ridd type?
    I am a JCU Science graduate from the very early years who has seen more of the broad world and fewer of the letters than Prof Harding. I care little about personalities or belief systems or current trendy ideologies. It is the quality of the science that is now central and that will be the main measure of future progress and social advancement, as Prof Rudd has often stated or implied.
    I have seen enough priima facie evidence of poor JCU science to be alerted. I have offered to mediate in its improvement but have been rebutted.

    Australia cannot present the GBR to the world with shoddy science. If it cannot present top science, it should lose its voice and the funding of all involved in the degradation of the science.
    Geoff

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    Geoff Sherrington

    X Rudd
    Yes Ridd
    Anticipatory text!!
    Geoff

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    Alex

    JCU’s conduct was deplorable. Likewise for its treatment of Bob Carter.
    But JCU’s conduct seems to be typical of Australian academia.
    Case in point – Macquarie university’s disgraceful treatment of Murray Salby:

    https://mlsxmq.wixsite.com/salby-macquarie/page-1f

    The only thing this culture seems to understand is the bottom line.
    If Australia expects it to change, its academia needs to be hit where it hurts.

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      theRealUniverse

      ‘its academia needs to be hit where it hurts.’ That requires a political party with the balls to stop funding crap and fr@udulent science.

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    PeterS

    Virtually all those who are rejecting the CAGW myth are getting the same treatment as Peter Ridd. It’s a common theme. To keep your career you have to either believe in the myth or at least pretend you believe in it. This is definitely not unique to him. It’s widespread and very common. If he can be used as the vehicle to explode the myth then great but it will only happen if the courts come down hard on the academia. So hard in fact their jobs are put on the line by smacking on them huge fines and/or prison sentences. Anything else is just a short term win for the sceptics while the academia continue with their practices to blot out others like Peter Ridd. Even reinstatement of him at the University will not make a difference. The scam will continue.

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      el gordo

      I respectfully disagree, the population in general is unaware of the Ridd saga, so its up to the MSM to question JCU on their dodgy data.

      This is the clincher, Speers leaving Sky to take over Barrie Cassidy’s job at the ABC. Aunty is returning to the centre and the Trots in the newsroom will be gutted.

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      • #
        yarpos

        Do new employees shape their organisations, or do they conform with their new organisation?

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          theRealUniverse

          They have to conform or their job wont last. Find one institution that has changed its stance due to the appointment of a skeptic.

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          el gordo

          The powers that be have decided its time to bring aunty back to the centre, with profound implications. Speers will achieve balance through intelligent debate on climate change and related matters.

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        PeterS

        I don’t understand what you mean. You disagree that CAGW is a myth or that Peter Ridd lost his career due to his scepticism of the CAGW story? As far as I am concerned the CAGW crowd is a cult worse than Scientology and a number of others cults all put together.

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          el gordo

          I disagree that the scam will continue, primarily because global cooling has begun.

          This European summer will be cool and wet because the NAO is negative, which appears to be a solar forcing.

          https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/pna/nao_index.html

          The CAGW cult is a cultural artefact with Christian roots in Revelations and millenarianism, and has nothing to do with Scientology.

          Peter Ridd is a whistle blower and deserves our thanks, and I would like to see him on our Blue Team up against the establishment.

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            theRealUniverse

            The scam will continue until the IPCC has been disbanded..if ever. People will just realize it as gobbldy gook as the weather get colder and summers get shorter due to solar downturn.

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              el gordo

              The IPCC could morph into a global cooling organisation, something real without mitigation rules.

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      RicDre

      “Virtually all those who are rejecting the CAGW myth are getting the same treatment as Peter Ridd. It’s a common theme”

      Here is another example of a person getting that kind of treatment:

      “Allan MacRae, a prominent long-time member of APEGA [Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta, Canada], was named to receive its most distinguished lifetime achievement award in 2019. Then APEGA staff learned that MacRae had written publicly about the damage done to humanity and the environment by radical greens. APEGA leadership strongly condemned his comments and his award was withdrawn.”

      From the article “Science’s Untold Scandal: The Lockstep March of Professional Societies to Promote the Climate Change Scare” by TOM HARRIS and DR. JAY LEHR

      https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/05/25/sciences-untold-scandal-the-lockstep-march-of-professional-societies-to-promote-the-climate-change-scare/

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    Kinky Keith

    Komrade Kuma’s comment above offers, perhaps, the most perceptive explanation for the treatment of Peter Ride.

    “The rationale looks the same, the protection of the status, standing and tenure of those in charge”.

    The court judgement and our common sense suggest that Peter Ridd’s actions were only about maintaining the integrity of the university and of science.

    By contrast the modern university production line exists to provide well paying jobs, prestige, security of tenure by the ancient tactic of collectivism.

    When the basis of the collective is threatened by the inference that global warming studies is based on “poor science” it’s obvious that action must be taken.

    Jo has now made the follow on logic plain for us: if Peter Ridd has been judged as “innocent” then those who accused him and dismissed him must be asked to justify their actions and rectify the damage they have done to him and the university they are supposed to be managing.

    KK

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    yarpos

    The focus of the article is interesting focussing on admin, reputational damage and appearances damaging JCU. Nothing about how the content of Ridd’s work in regard to core science activities may affect JCU reputation. They appear to be in trouble on many fronts.

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    JCU might be viewed as one of the world’s leading universities for marine biology, but is it rightly viewed as such. A major part of that perception is research on coral reefs, particularly on supposed evidence that global warming is behind increased coral bleaching. Professor Ridd’s major “crime” was to point to evidence that contradicted the facts.
    I had a look at the basic hypothesis that increasing coral bleaching is due to increased average surface temperatures.
    1. From HADSST3*, for the Northern Great Barrier Reef, average temperatures have not increased since about 1980. In the Southern GBR, average temperatures have increased, but less than the global average.
    2. Coral bleaching is supposedly related to heat stress. That is when temperatures are above the average for a number of days, particularly in the summer months. On this basis, it would be expected that the major GBR coral bleaching years of 1998, 2002, 2016 and 2017 would have anomously warm mean surface temperatures for January, February and March. This was not the case. 2002 was a cool year. For southern GBR the summers of 2016 and 2017 were about average.
    3. A more direct test of global warming causing increased coral bleaching was to correlate observed severe bleaching events to global warming since pre-industrial times. Hughes et al 2018 reported the results for four areas – Australsia, Indian Ocean, Western Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. For Australia R-squared was 0.0001. Two random sets of figures usually provide a better R-squared. For the Western Atlantic it was a slightly negative relationship.
    4. Very few bleaching events were observed prior to 1980. From 1998 onwards observed bleaching events were orders of magnitude greater. The massive increase in observations can be put down to (a) improve detection methods, especially through satellites (b) massively increased resources – financial and numbers of people – put into going out in boats to check.

    Points 1 and 2, the evidence is here. Points 3 and 4 covered here.

    *Sea surface temperatures are actually readings just below the surface. This is where the corals are located.

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    • #

      When evaluating the evidence for a supposedly global phenomenon, one should look at the evidence presented by the opponents. I looked at an article that cited a number of instances from around the world of increased coral bleaching with the purpose of linking that to climate change. It was interesting that many of the sources referred to newspaper articles, which in turn often did not limk back to original research. One such citation to the dramatic decline in corals in Sekisei Lagoon, Okinawa, Japan. The citation only referred to warming temperatures. After a bit of research, I found a short 2017 article at the Japanese Ministry of Environment website that stated

      (C)orals in the (Sekisei) Lagoon have extensively diminished since park designation because of various reasons: terrestrial runoffs of red clay and wastewater; coral bleaching due to high water temperatures; and outbreaks of the predatory crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci). Initial efforts have been made to reduce terrestrial runoffs to help the natural recovery of coral ecosystem health. Studies on coral distribution and techniques for reef rehabilitation are also in progress.

      The primary cause appears to local and human. The solution is to reduce the local problem.
      This and other examples are presented here.

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    robert rosicka

    Jo will be on Sky’s outsiders this morning

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      Annie

      Rats! Missed it. Rushing around getting ready for church means no telly am, especially on Sunday.

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    David Wojick

    I was hoping for a weekend unthreaded and will follow through if I get one. But I have a question. I recall a fantastic Aussie movie about a mounted infantry unit that at the end stays on their horses and attacks, holding their bayonets between their fingers as Sabres. Can you point me to this movie? I wore my tape out years ago.

    In return I offer Matewan, which you can YouTube in pieces at least. The goons come to the coal fields and get shot to pieces. It includes the classic line, spoken by the boarding house lady — “No guns at table” — which my wife still uses. In fact the local hospital has a sign at the door prohibiting firearms, but I digress. The lady later shoots the goon in her hanging laundry. Priceless.

    In any case, surely this mounted infrantry movie is well known. If not then it should be.

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    robert rosicka

    Congrats on your outsiders appearance Jo , nailed it again .

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      pat

      robert rosicka – saw quite a bit of it, thanks to you, and hope I didn’t miss too much at the start.

      JUST WHEN YOU THINK THINGS CAN’T GET WORSE POLITICALLY!

      26 May: SMH: Arthur Sinodinos a leading contender to be appointed US ambassador
      By Bevan Shields and Matthew Knott
      The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age understand NSW senator Arthur Sinodinos – a highly respected former cabinet minister and chief of staff to John Howard – is a leading candidate to replace Joe Hockey as the nation’s top international envoy…
      An announcement could be made as soon as Sunday…

      (Hockey’s) successor will take up the posting at a highly volatile time, just as the Democratic presidential primaries are beginning and with President Donald Trump focussed on his re-election prospects.
      Senator Sinodinos served as Malcolm Turnbull’s cabinet secretary but was forced to stand down to undergo treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He has since made a full recovery and was expected to return to cabinet under Mr Morrison…

      Mr Trump said on Friday that he had asked his Attorney-General William Barr to investigate Australia’s role in sparking the 2016 FBI probe into potential links between his election campaign and Russia.
      “I hope he looks at the UK and I hope he looks at Australia and I hope he looks at Ukraine,” he told reporters.
      “I hope he looks at everything, because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country.”
      https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/arthur-sinodinos-a-leading-contender-to-be-appointed-us-ambassador-20190526-p51r7g.html

      Arthur Sinodinos urges Liberals to use renewables to boost environmental credentials
      Senator says party should ‘take advantage’ of falling cost of renewables to ensure ‘greater reliability, lower cost and lower greenhouse gas footprint’
      The Guardian-20 May 2019
      Arthur Sinodinos has warned that the Liberal party should not stand in the way of renewables…

      Liberal strategist advises PM to borrow Labor’s health policies
      Daily Telegraph-20 May 2019
      NSW Senator Arthur Sinodinos, who served as John Howard’s chief of staff … Asked what the Morrison Government should adopt…

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        pat

        oh dear – here’s where Josh goes for his first post-election interview!

        25 May: Guardian: Interview: Josh Frydenberg: low-emissions future is inevitable and a huge opportunity
        Treasurer signals new infrastructure for renewable zones, and says Coalition will pursue climate policy it took to the election.
        by Katharine Murphy
        In his ***first wide-ranging interview since holding his Victorian seat last weekend, where he was subjected to a concerted campaign from the Greens and the climate-focused independent Oliver Yates, Frydenberg told Guardian Australia the Coalition would implement the $3.5bn climate policy it took to the election rather than pursue a reboot.

        ***But echoing the Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos, who has urged colleagues to use a changing energy market to bolster the Coalition’s environmental credentials and be positive about the increasing share of renewable energy, Frydenberg said emissions reduction and a strong economy were not mutually exclusive propositions…
        https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/25/josh-frydenberg-low-emissions-future-is-inevitable-and-a-huge-opportunity

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        • #
          pat

          to be fair, Murpharoo did write “first WIDE-RANGING interview”, so it may not have been his first.

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        el gordo

        ” …. there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country.”

        Yeah his name is Alexander Downer and it was clearly an error of judgement.

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        yarpos

        I am clearly missing something with Sinodinos. His credentials, peformance and track record seem out of kilter with the roles he is mentioned for. Does he have naked pics of the right people or something?

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        Kinky Keith

        Can’t believe that Scomo appears to have gone off the rails so soon.

        KK

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        • #
          Graeme No.3

          KK:

          On the other hand he has dumped a potential embarrassment and someone who would be in line to be a Minister, and opened up a vacancy (Jim Molan?) for a Senator.

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      Yonniestone

      Yes yet again Jo presents an informed articulate argument against the Climate(tm) industry.

      The fact that not one warmist is game to debate her comes as no surprise.

      A Podcast with other real scientists (like ones here hint hint) would be a good way to get the sceptical view out there.

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        robert rosicka

        It’s hard to debate something that’s been made up and there’s no actual proof for , as soon as a new scare story comes out these days it’s exposed and countered very quickly .

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    pat

    24 May: Daily Caller: Listen to the awkward moment this Clinton advisor realized her book was based on a falsehood
    by J. Arthur Bloom
    A former advisor to Bill Clinton and ***Al Gore may have set a record for fastest discrediting of a book when a BBC interviewer showed her the central thesis was based on a misreading of legal terminology…
    Wolf is a Yale graduate and Rhodes Scholar who did graduate work at Oxford…
    VIDEO 2min17sec
    https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/24/naomi-wolf-bbc-interview-book-clinton-advisor/

    25 May: Fox News: Feminist author Naomi Wolf admits error in new book after called out live on air for ***misunderstanding data
    By Lukas Mikelionis
    It is every author’s biggest nightmare – getting called out live on air for featuring factually incorrect information in your new upcoming book.
    Feminist author Naomi Wolf, who advised both former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, was told on the air that in her new book she misread the evidence, making her entire premise false…

    Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the book’s publisher in the U.S., told the New York Times called the issue an “unfortunate error,” but said that the “the overall thesis of the book ‘Outrages’ still holds.”
    The publisher added that while it “employs professional editors, copyeditors and proofreaders for each book project, we rely ultimately on authors for the integrity of their research and fact-checking.”
    https://www.foxnews.com/us/naomi-wolf-bbc-interview-error-book-executions

    25 May: NY Post: Naomi Wolf learns of serious flaws in upcoming book during BBC interview
    by Mary Kay Linge
    In a mortifying radio interview, author Naomi Wolf learned the thesis of her about-to-be-published book is completely wrong – because she had misunderstood the British court documents that served as her source material…
    Wolf, a bestselling author in the 1990s, was known as a feminist guru who spearheaded Vice President Al Gore’s attempted “alpha male” makeover ahead of the 2000 presidential election, which Gore lost narrowly to President George W. Bush…

    WOULD LOVE A SIMILAR MOMENT FOR CAGW, THO I DOUBT BBC WOULD CALL OUT A ‘CLIMATE EXPERT’.

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    Speedy

    Morning all.

    Just wondering – why employ brilliant, intelligent minds at a university when a sock puppet could do the same job?

    Cheers,

    Mike

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    pat

    more revisionism & “political bubbles” from theirABC:

    26 May: ABC: It wasn’t Bob Brown who lost the election, it was the Labor Party
    By James Norman
    Many commentators have pointed the finger of blame at The Greens for the Coalition’s election win.
    Or more specifically, at former Greens leader Bob Brown’s Adani convoy that travelled up Australia’s east coast all the way into north Queensland’s regional mining communities…
    While Mr Brown might make a convenient scapegoat, the analysis is at best simplistic or at worst anti-democratic. It wasn’t Mr Brown who lost the election, it was the ALP…

    Neither Mr Brown nor the hundreds of others who took part in the Adani convoy were doing so as part of a political campaign to win office.
    They were simply exercising their democratic right as citizens to express their opinion about one of the biggest issues of our time — the existential threat posed by the climate emergency and the need to rapidly transition away from coal.

    Arguably, by having the gall to front up in those communities, the Adani convoy should be applauded for opening up a dialogue rather than simply pontificating from inner cities, as environmental campaigners are often accused of doing.
    Moreover, the hypothesis that Queenslanders voted against climate action simply isn’t borne out in the facts of the election results…

    Certainly if Labor had ignored the pressure from the CFMMEU in Queensland and taken a stronger position on Adani they may have picked up some of the votes that bled to The Greens…
    The fact was that Mr Shorten’s campaigning on climate change was far from convincing while he was unprepared to take a strong position on what the public perceives as the biggest environmental threat the country currently faces — opening up one of the world’s largest remaining coal reserves in the Galilee basin to coal mining at a time of runaway climate change…

    Democracy demands freedom of speech
    We can be certain that there will be more Adani convoys, bigger high school student climate marches and more pressure than ever on the Morrison led Coalition government to take action on climate change.
    And without a doubt, one of the takeaways from this election for the environment movement is the need to work harder to engage ***outside political bubbles…

    (Writer) James Norman is a Melbourne writer and author of the book Bob Brown: Gentle Revolutionary, published by Allen & Unwin.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-26/bob-browns-adani-convoy-is-not-to-blame-for-alp-loss/11146618

    Wikipedia: James Norman has written for The Guardian, The Age, The Saturday Paper, among others. He is the author of the book Bob Brown: Gentle Revolutionary, a biography of Bob Brown, the Greens’ leader. He has also worked for several Australian environmental NGOs including Greenpeace, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

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      TdeF

      So now that the Green’s tacitly admit that coal does not cause Global Warming, as it is not ever mentioned, would Bob Brown explain how coal causes Global Warming? And answer the question, what Global Warming? The ski lodges have reopened at Aspen and skiers are still enjoying snow in Spain on the Sierra Nevada mountains as they head for mid summer on June 22nd. What Global Warming?

      Are they really preparing us for Global Cooling, the next thing caused by coal, oil, gas and all life on earth. And how does Coal cause bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef? The total collapse of any pseudo scientific argument is being supplemented by demonstrations against Climate Change, freedom of speech, Christianity and European history. The upper middle Class Green religion makes no sense at all, but it never did. All the Green in our world is actually a long chain hydrocarbon, apart from the copper mineral malachite.

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      robert rosicka

      It was a whole lot of factors that lost Labor the election but one big factor was Adani so yes Brown did help the Coalition .

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      yarpos

      I totally agree with the ABC on this occassion. I think Bob Brown and the convoy particpants are to be applauded, loud and long. The concept, execution and timing of the convoy where not just an exercise in democracy but were in fact a project of sheer genius. I really hope Bob and his cohorts are around for the enxt election cycle.

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        Graeme No.3

        Bob Brown’s grandstanding was for The Greens.
        It certainly reminded a lot of people about Green policies and the pressure they put on Labor. I think Labor will be a whole lot less enthusiastic for The Greens next election.

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    Ruairi

    Universities denying free speech,
    Are not places to learn or to teach,
    Where, to gain a degree,
    Staff and students agree,
    With the political dogma they preach.

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      TdeF

      Political science is replacing real science. You have to believe what you are told to believe and the facts are irrelevant. In Western Universities science is now a politicized weapon devoid of truth.

      Last year I read that 60% of US Universities do not have a single Republican on staff. How they know that I do not know, but if true it would be both amazing and frightening, a complete take over of Univerities by Marxists who now control employment.

      Professor Ridd’s achievement is all the more significant, hitting at the heart of the Marxist/Capitalist/EU/UN Global Warming scam. The scam initiated by James Hansen of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory of all places, an odd place to invent man made Global Warming. After 31 years of this, the new scare without explanation is Climate Change.

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        TdeF

        Can anyone point me to a (scientific explanation of the mysterious phenomenon of man made “Climate Change” and what causes it and exactly how it differs from man made “Global Warming”? How are they connected? Can you get man made Climate Change without man made Global Warming? If there is no Global Warming, how does Climate Change occur, man made or not?

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    Dave in the States

    After what Peter Ridd went through, and the flagrant waste of one million dollars, someone must be held accountable. Otherwise, no academic would want to risk two years of legal hell for pointing out systematic problems in academia. Who would dare drily write “for your amusement” in an email?

    One hopes there will be repercussions and a precedent set. At least it would be a start. The universities are the foundation of the AGW scam. Think about it: The universities indoctrinate both the MSM and the K-12 teachers who both indoctrinate the kids. Both are sycophants of the professors. The left in particular seem to place much importance on “the experts.” The professors indoctrinate the “best and the brightest” who populate the corporate board rooms and who set the politicized green policies which are in turn praised by the MSM. The “best and the brightest” become the useful ****** in practice.

    Ironically, the professors and the regents are the ones who should protect academic freedom, open debate, and free speech, but are the ones suppressing those principles.

    Is it elitism?

    Is it just the system?

    Is it a craven desire to be praised and avoid criticism?

    Is the retirement fund more important than integrity?

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    Zane

    Lock her up!

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    Robber

    But don’t you understand? We are facing a “climate emergency” so dissent cannot be tolerated.
    Definition of emergency: A serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action.
    I suggest that the leadership team at JCU start to lead by example. Shut down their air-conditioned offices (after all, in Qld 90% of electricity is coal-based); ban all staff air travel; issue bicycles to replace all cars; ban the use of fossil-fuel boats and provide row boats for any exploration of the GBR; reduce leadership remuneration by 50% to fund more fact-based research.

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    John F. Hultquist

    This will warm your hearts:
    Uber Submarine Service at GBR

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Comes free with untrained Uber driver/pilot..wait for the first accident, dont see me paying for a ride soon..

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    pat

    unbelievable:

    26 May: Daily Mail: Are Charles and Trump set for a showdown over climate change? Prince is preparing for a frank discussion with US President during upcoming State Visit
    •Prince Charles is set to have a discussion US president about climate change
    •The exchange will take place during Donald Trump visit to Britain next month
    •Charles has been a passionate environmental campaigner for decades
    •Trump sparked widespread outrage when he pulled the US out of the Paris treaty
    By Charlotte Wace
    ***According to a source close to the Prince, Charles will be ‘very happy’ to talk about climate change ***if the subject is raised by the President…
    According to Palace sources, diplomatic protocol says that the agenda for the meeting should be dictated by Trump as the visiting head of state.

    But a source close to the Prince last night told The Mail on Sunday ‘it remains very likely’ climate change will be discussed, adding that no conversations have taken place to prevent it from being raised…

    ***Given Trump’s notoriously volatile personality, a frank discussion risks becoming heated…
    But a second source said that Charles had ‘more than enough experience’ to prevent any diplomatic incident…
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7071105/Prince-Charles-preparing-frank-discussion-Trump-upcoming-State-Visit.html

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    LightningCamel

    I find myself troubled by the amount of comment that seems to portray Ridd’s case as some sort of major affirmation of academic freedom. As the judge makes clear in the first three paragraphs of his judgement, the case was about the interpretation of clause 14 of the JCU Enterprise Agreement and the authority of a Code of Conduct made under that agreement but not part of it.
    Paragraphs 1 and 2 ( the para numbers don’t copy from the source)

    Some have thought that this trial was about freedom of speech and intellectual freedom. Others have thought that this trial was about the manner in which academics should conduct themselves. Some observers may have thought that this trial was about the use of non-offensive words when promulgating scientific ideas. Media reports have considered that this trial was about silencing persons with controversial or unpopular views.
    Though many of those issues were canvased and discussed throughout the hearing of this matter, this trial was about none of the above. Rather, this trial was purely and simply about the proper construction of a clause in an Enterprise Agreement. Whilst the Court acknowledges that there may be consequences that touch upon these other issues because of the Court’s construction of that clause, none of those consequences can play any part in the determination of the proper construction of that clause.

    The Judge makes some comment about the importance to a University of academic freedom eg para 246

    As discussed earlier in these reasons, the concept of intellectual freedom is not recent and is extremely important as it helps to define the mission of any university. Whilst it may not be a “fundamental right”, it is nonetheless the cornerstone upon which the University exists. If the cornerstone is removed, the building tumbles.

    These thoughts however do not appear in the rulings at para 303, these are couched in terms of cl. 14 of the EA. There is no determination that I can see that gives any weight or right to the abstract concept of intellectual freedom. Whilst Peter has had a significant win and JCU’s reputation has been trashed, no principle has been established and the gains could be ephemeral. I admire Peter for the honesty and strength he has demonstrated but constant vigilance will be required to ensure this is not undone by the consensus mafia.

    I would be surprised if there are not one or two people in the backrooms of JCU beavering away at a scheme to include the relevant wording from the Code of Conduct into the Enterprise Agreement. If that were to occur then a similar case would be lost 17:0.

    The transcript I am referring to is here.

    Important caveat, I am no sort of lawyer!

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    Lewis P Buckingham

    As a non lawyer I understand that the clauses in his contract that were used to discipline him were overridden by this Viz..
    ’14. INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM
    14.1. JCU is committed to act in a manner consistent with the protection and promotion of intellectual freedom within the University and in accordance with JCU’s Code of Conduct.
    14.2. Intellectual freedom includes the rights of staff to:
    Pursue critical and open inquiry;
    Participate in public debate and express opinions about issues and ideas related to their respective fields of competence;
    Express opinions about the operations of JCU and higher education policy more generally;
    Be eligible to participate in established decision making structures and processes within JCU, subject to established selection procedures and criteria;
    Participate in professional and representative bodies, including unions and other representative bodies.’

    So the rights conferred on Peter Ridd by clause 14 preceed contractual agreement,which are subject to them, so therefore clause 14 rights are Prior rights
    that Peter Ridd must adhere to and enjoy in order to carry out his functions as a scientist employed by JCU.
    All rights carry with them a corresponding obligation.
    This was not canvassed in the judgement.
    However it could be easily argued that he was obliged and bound to speak out about the issues he raised, and that the University could have
    supported his action in the light of their own Clause 14.
    However they do not appear to have done so.
    No doubt this will be involved in the quantum of damages,yet to be made.

    The intellectual freedom part comes where Funders, such as us taxpayers, will be telling the Government to review the rights of free inquiry and expression in such contracts of employment
    and if they fall short, demand revision as a condition of funding.

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      LightningCamel

      Well sort of. The clause 14 is from the JCU Enterprise Agreement which would have formed part of any employment arrangement and this was held either to have not been infringed or to not support actions taken by JCU. Much of the argument advanced by JCU seemed to depend on the Code of Conduct which would, I imagine, also form part of any employment agreement. As I understand it the Judge held that the Code of Conduct was not capable of superseding the Enterprise Agreement. The result being that the Code of Conduct may have been infringed but that was irrelevant because the Enterprise Agreement was the controlling document and the CoC could not be held to modify the EA.

      So, a change in the EA, if it could be slipped past the employees and the Fair Work Commission, would leave a future Peter Ridd with no recourse.

      Now, with due respect to everyone, that is about as far as I am prepared to go on this topic. I am reasonably happy with what I have written so far but I am not competent to comment on legal detail.

      I would welcome commentary from anyone with the required legal skills even if it says that I am up the proverbial creek without a paddle. The reasoning would be interesting. In the event that I am not talking complete twaddle, what steps are available to give intellectual freedom a legal existence outside the detail of an employment contract? I guess funding bodies could write stipulations into funding agreements but this depends on the attitude of funding bodies. To establish that as a precedent is a very definite double edged sword, they could just as easily write a prohibition against publication of dissenting research. What other options are available?

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      • #
        Lewis P Buckingham

        ‘What other options are available?’
        Eternal vigilance.
        Teach Natural Law.
        Frame it as Positive Law

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    Analitik

    It is damaging JCU’s reputation in an area where JCU leads the world. In marine science, JCU is the top dog.

    Good. If their reputation is trashed, then so will the credibility of the “ocean acidification” nonsense they have continually published to “explain” coral bleaching, crown of thorns starfish outbreaks and algal blooms.

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    Gbees

    “Ridd has more support on campus than he realises” – maybe, but they are gutless.

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    Bruce Donaldson Scott

    Thank you Jo, I hope the new government will start draining the “educated and enlightened” swamps.

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    Dave

    Do what I did, find reviews of JCU on Facebook… etc and review them mentioning Peter RIDD and their lack of free speech…. they got a little barmy with me and wanted it taken down… still there though think!! 🙂

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    2dogs

    Provider Registration Standard 4.3 of the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2011 stated that Universities needed to:

    ensure that academic staff are free to make public comment on issues that lie within their area of expertise

    Was there anything similar put into the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2015? Is there a complaint process to TEQSA for the public or alumni about this?

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    Kim

    Going to university is all about building, not fortressing. When a university is heavily into fortressing that is when it is failing in its purpose and its duty.

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    Latus Dextro

    Oh JCU admin, you so reap what you sow.
    Your University is rendered an academic and institutional travesty by scientivism and ideology.
    Your service to the community lies in the obvious, you highlight the korruptn.
    Thank you and a grateful salute to Prof. good Ridd-ance

    00