For people in Brisbane, don’t miss Peter Ridd & Jennifer Marohasy this Sunday at 2pm. They will attend a premiere viewing of their new film “A Coral Bleaching Tragedy”.
Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
Jen Marohasy and Peter Ridd
Dear All,
It is now nine months since the High Court decision (Ridd v JCU) was handed down and I thought donors to that legal action might be interested in what has happened in the meantime.
As you will recall, the HC ruled that JCU acted unlawfully in censuring me for my comments on the Quality Assurance of Great Barrier Reef (GBR) science, but was allowed to fire me for speaking about JCU’s unlawful behaviour. I have been working with Morgan Begg from the IPA on a new volume that will analyse the case in detail. Contributors include Chris Merritt, legal correspondent for The Australian, James Allan (Law Professor at the University of Queensland), and Aynsley Kellow (Emeritus Professor at U. Tasmania). The aim is to make sure as much as possible is learned and documented for future work to improve academic freedom of speech.
This will draw a line under those legal proceedings.
The issue of quality assurance of GBR science, which sparked the legal action, is never far from my mind, and I have been assisting Jennifer Marohasy in making a couple of high-quality films about the GBR. You have doubtless heard about the latest bad news of the bleaching on the Reef. Do you ever wonder if there might be more to the story? Jennifer will be releasing her new film shortly and there is a premier viewing on Sunday for those living in Brisbane. 24 July 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Newfarm Cinemas 701 Brunswick St.
(I will be there and would be delighted to meet if you can make it. It is nice to thank people in person.)
Reef Rebels
I have also been working (unpaid) with the IPA on a new program for young people called Reef Rebels (RR) where we are taking small groups to the reef and presenting a wide range of scientific evidence on its condition. Last week we finished the pilot tour of the reef. We visited two of the reefs that were supposedly “severely” bleached early this year. I will not say what the RR participants found as that will be the subject of a film and a lot of social media in the future. But you can probably guess. During the week, we showed the RR participants much of the evidence about the reef demonstrating that the outlook is extremely hopeful, and that there have been serious QA issues with the science. In order to give balance, the participants also spent some time with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to get the conventional wisdom about the Reef.
We will be using video of the tour to make social media designed for the younger generation. I think it will give them more hope for the future of the reef. So many of them are now convinced the reef is doomed. This is, in my view, a disgrace bordering on child abuse. I still have faith that the naturally rebellious spirit of youth will eventually see them questioning if the Reef is really doomed. We just need to get some facts to them.
One piece of data that gave the RR participants hope is the coral cover statistics which for 2021 show, at the minimum, record equaling coral on the GBR. This despite supposedly three or four devastating mass bleaching events since 2016. How can there be such good coral if those events were truly so serious. If we could get that single fact to every school child in Australia, it would make them wonder what is going on.
That is the aim of Reef Rebels.
Thanks again for your assistance.
Kind Regards
Peter
Source: https://www.gofundme.com/f/peter-ridd-legal-action-fund
From Jennifer Marohasy;
Dr Jennifer Marohasy and Dr Peter Ridd launch two documentaries showing the true state of the GBR
About this event
EVENT DESCRIPTION:
More undead corals.
The Australian Institute for Progress and the Institute for Public Affairs is hosting a world first premiere of “A Coral Bleaching Tragedy” as well as its prequel “The Measure of the Great Barrier Reef” to be followed by a Q & A with the films’ director and narrator Jennifer Marohasy, and scientific consultant Peter Ridd.
FILM DESCRIPTION:
The Great Barrier Reef has experienced a lot of threats over its 600,000 years of off-and-on inhabitation of the East Coast of Australia, perhaps none more egregious than the threat by UNESCO to list it as endangered.
These movies show the true state of the reef now, while providing some historical perspective. Has the GBR been damaged by bleaching? Absolutely. How badly, and is this outside normal parameters?
Federal and state governments have spent billions “saving” the reef, while reef scientists like Professor Terry Hughes claim that while the reef might not really be in danger, an endagered listing would be a good way of putting pressure on the federal government to do more about climate change.
Ironies, misinformation and naked ambition all coalesce around this iconic natural adornment of Queensland, and this is a good chance to explore them and what the real state of the reef is with people who really know and care.
This is an event you won’t want to miss! Seeing is believing.
Source: Eventbrite
Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
Would love to be there.
The people of North Queensland knew about the “bleaching” of the
reefs long before the scientific community “discovered” it happening.
The dead coral was used where lime was required. Also small pieced
were painted n bright colours and sold to visitors to North Queensland.
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After listening to the absolute fear mongering by Minister Plebersek yesterday it is gratifying to know that there are still realists who conduct science rather than grant harvesting. Thank you Jennifer and Peter. The scheme to educate young people in the facts is the best way ahead. The Marxists have been using this technique to tell lies for years. The problem with lies is that they are eventually exposed whereas truth goes marching on.
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Piebersek is a nutter and a left wing nutter looking for relevance. I don’t know how this type of alarmism helps .. This Government should knuckledown and stop behaving like university undergraduates. The report is nothing short of tripe – written by activists.
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Apart from Tanya Plibersek’s personal slant on the story, what was new? WE’ve heard it all before, we know all about it.
And it is not true that nothing has been done about it.
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Her comment about increasing national park land reminded me about a question put to Prime Minister Abbott asking when the Federal Government intended to increase the number of national parks. He replied that is already too much land area to manage and fund, that being State Government lands converted to UN registered National Parks and managed State National Parks & Wildlife Services, and Territories.
The report that she claimed had not been released when published late last year is a combined Federal and State governments organisation publication. And very obviously compiled with Green eyes and politics. For example, the GBR health downgraded, again!!!
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It’s tragic that it’s so hard to find true justice in Australia anymore and it’s extremely expensive to do so even if you can find it.
It’s also tragic what has become of our “universities” and the low quality of graduates they produce. Free and open inquiry is no longer possible and the graduates are unwilling or unable to ask difficult questions, plus they seem to have an appalling lack of deep knowledge about anything.
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Consider a student or graduate of a modern “university” in Australia or elswhere in the West who actually asked questions based upon the method of inquiry taught according to the Scientific Method.
If the questions and answers didn’t fit with the established narrative they would be expelled if a student or sacked (fired) from their job. Just as happened to Prof. Ridd.
I have often stated that the Left are returning us to pre-Enlightenment beliefs and destroying Enlightenment values. Among those Enlightenment values being destroyed is the pursuit of knowledge without restrictions, based upon reason and evidence. In the present paradigm, established dogma must not be questioned, even if the physical evidence is at variance with what is claimed as in the present case.
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Come to think of it, do they even teach the Scientific Method any more? I remember learning about in primary school, back in the day.
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I think it’s been relegated to History and Philosophy of Science.
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This is of concern and needs explanation.
The 2021-22 event ‘was the first mass bleaching event recorded during a cooler La Niña year.’ (Guardian)
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One of these days a major tropical cyclone will devastate large sections of the reef and then massive bleaching will be off the radar. Anyway why would one respond to the garbage the Guardian puts out. They are wrong.
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The first question to ask, is it actually true?
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That is what I was thinking, no doubt Jennifer and Peter have the answer.
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I wonder what word activated the filter. Reef!! that’s it for sure!
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I do not understand their title since their point is there is no tragedy. Most people will read the title, not see the film, and think there is a coral bleaching tragedy.
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David, I think maybe their approach is not to attract those who already recognise the junk science.
Rather than preach to the converted, I think they are trying capture an audience of climate-change/doomed-reef activists, and present some real science and reality, something they will never get in present day mainstream media and academia.
I hope they have some success, and ultimately help more people to question the conveyor belt of alarmism, and help free them from peddlers of ideology.
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Correct- if they headline it like that it will definitely get more “hits” on social media. Bad news not only sells newspapers, it gets more retweets and likes. Peter and Jenny actually explain they want the information to be found by curious children and students. We love Jo’s blog, buts its similar to my industry. A whole lot of like minded people talking to each other within a silo, but it doesn’t hit the great morass of people. Someone compared it to the homeless bloke sitting on a park bench muttering to himself. Very apt.
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“The Great Barrier Reef Tragedy”
The real tragedy is outfits like JCU promulgating the hogwash they do and basically getting away with it.
If it wasn’t for Prof Peter Ridd, who would have known about it outside of a few honest Marine Biologists.
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So, with all of this Alarmist bleaching, how come the Great Barrier Reef is still there and thriving despite UN reports of its demise?
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Hi John. The UN has not reported its demise.
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Almost.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/06/1094512
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No doubt there’s an endless series of highly overpaid UN apparatchiks regularly visiting on chartered jets and staying in ultra-luxury accommodation for weeks at a time investigating the “problem”.
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Must have jet turbine emissions filters on their aircraft.
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For sure. Just follow the money and grants trail.
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“A United Nations body is recommending that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef be included on a list of world heritage in danger, according to a draft report issued on Monday, a move which has been heavily criticized by the Australian Government. ”
Near enough by any measure
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I understand that many consider this to be blackmail based on the GBR being a major international tourist attraction and therefore a significant contributor to the Queensland and therefore national economy. In other words do as we are told or suffer the consequences.
Former PM Morrison recently addressed a church congregation in Perth WA and part of his address included the advice not to trust governments or the United Nations. Of course critics condemned his comments and pointed out that he was the leader of a government. Yes, and therefore well placed to comment and give advice?
People forget that the government he led cancelled the previously regular contributions to UN “green funds” during 2019 and said Australia would instead use that foreign aid funding to assist neighbouring nations, notably Pacific Region. At COP26 he refused demands to stop coal mining in Australia and to increase our Paris Agreement emissions target despite urging from major allies UK and US who supported the IPCC position. And he would not commit to net zero by 2050 and instead said Australia will have “an aspirational goal” subject to development of new technology and without damaging the economy. There are more examples and obviously placed him in a similar position to PM Abbott who also refused to fully cooperate with the UN … remember the warning from Christopher Monckton to watch his back?
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‘Ve haf vays’.
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Excellent summary Dennis my thoughts exactly.
Terence M
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Because it’s all about money, funds to observe the reef needed to keep JCU going, UNESCO endangered status would help nicely.
I say ‘observe’ because it seems that’s all they do, what has been done to reintroduce predators that eat Crown of Thorns Starfish, zip, nil.
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The Crown of Thorns is another imaginary problem. It is a natural predator of the Reef but they claim it is introduced. How could it not be there naturally when the larvae float on the ocean?
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Whilst at school we were taught that the Crown of Thorns Starfish was introduced in ballast water from a Japanese ship. At that time anything that came from Japan was considered junk.
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They are delivered by frogman in green wet suits.
/sarc.
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Going to the Reef to do “research” is a dream position, a full-time taxpayer-funded holiday in a tropical paradise.
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Following on from my previous post –
ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN JENNIFER MAROHASY’S WEBSITE
“Everybody claims to care about the Great Barrier Reef, but very few people take the time to actually visit it. The reports of mass coral bleaching this past summer are mostly from aerial surveys flown at 150 metres altitude in aeroplanes and helicopters. I have repeatedly argued that you can’t see very much from that distance.
[SNIP]
Will the corals identified in the two survey as bleached now be dead?
Will the bleached corals now be covered in dark green algae?
When we really care about something we should want to know everything about it. We should be prepared to show-up when things are going well, when they are turning bad, and also when the corals are at their most distressed – even dead.
It could be that all the corals have recovered.
But we won’t know if we don’t visit.
[SNIP]
Jennifer Marohasy
ennifer Marohasy is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs
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The Trip to Stanley Reef –
https://ipa.org.au/ipa-today/rebels-to-the-coral-reef-cause-part-5
The Trip to Moore Reef –
https://ipa.org.au/ipa-today/rebels-to-the-coral-reef-cause-part-4ohn Brewer demonstrating the resilience of our reef
John Brewer demonstrating the resilience of our reef
In March this year, The Guardian reported a mass bleaching event at the John Brewer Reef, a part of the Great Barrier Reef around 70km off Townsville in North Queensland. Adjunct Associate Professor Adam Smith, the eco consultant who propagated this narrative, said of John Brewer:
The coral is basically starving … We’ve definitely just seen corals that are stressed and white. This is one of the healthiest reefs of Townsville and one of the best reefs on the whole Great Barrier Reef. So for these corals to be stressed and damaged … well, it’s likely it’s the same at other reefs down here. [Read here]
[SNIP]
https://ipa.org.au/ipa-today/john-brewer-reef-back-to-beige
In fact, Dr Marohasy has produced a new documentary A Coral Bleaching Tragedy that explores the ironies, misinformation and naked ambition which all coalesce around this iconic natural beauty, and what the real state of the reef is. The documentary will be released at an official launch in Brisbane – hosted by the IPA and the Australian Institute of Progress – on Sunday 24 July.
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How can we see the film outside of Brisbane?
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The GBR is such a huge organism, that some problems are bound to arise, just like in the human body. For example, if we have a stomach ulcer, then the GBR might have a small local problem with coral bleaching. The GBR has existed for millenia…it can’t be in perfect health for that length of time.
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https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-were-wrong-coral-reef-fish-not-affected-by-ocean-acidification-from-climate-change/
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“It takes real genius to have an energy crisis in a nation which is the fifth biggest gas exporter in the world, the highest value coal exporter, and has the largest reserves of uranium. In the race to the bottom, Australia is burdened with more energy per capita than anywhere on Earth — and yet Big Government has succeeded, and wildly, showing that the richest nation on Earth can still be poor.”
Don’t worry, we are awash with the geniuses to achieve net zero energy availability.
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Aussie public: “Thank heavens we have ample energy sources here and are not in as bad a way as the US and EU at present.” Albo to Dr Ryan: “Hold my beer, and see you at the massage parlor.”
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I swam on the GBR in 2018 – right in the middle of the supposed coral bleaching events. I saw plenty of reef fish and lots of healthy coral, but what attracted my attention most was the massess of coral eggs and sperm floating around in the water. Where did they come from if the rest of the reef was dead or dying? Did they contribute to the rapid recovery of the reef in the following years to the point were studies indicated the GBR was in the best health for the last 20 years?
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