By Jo Nova
Nobody believes the Experts
Four thousand climate scientists have cried about climate change on TV. Weather maps are red-hot. And every fire, flood and dry weekend is caused by climate change, yet somehow, half the country doesn’t want to pay a cent to stop these catastrophes and most of the other half just want to pay one or two dollars a week, which is practically nothing — not even a coffee. It’s so low it might be “go-away” money — as in, they hope the pollster will go away and stop asking more questions about climate change. None of these people take carbon emissions seriously and this is 90% of the country.
The IPA asked 1,027 Australians how much they would personally be willing to pay for the nation to reach Net zero by 2050, and half of them said, nothing. Another quarter said “$50 a year” which is one pitiful dollar a week. Most of the rest said “$2” a week, which leaves barely 7% of people ticking the boxes $500 or more per year, which everyone is already paying and has been paying for years. They just don’t know it, because the cost was hidden in their electricity bills.
Could there be any more skeptical position than “zero dollars”?
I guess the surveyors could start asking how much money people would need to be paid to believe in “Net Zero”, but that wasn’t an option. So we are left to interpret the “zero money” for Net Zero as people who don’t think the world is warming, and people who like warming, and people who think the UN is a basket of nematodes.
Whichever way we look at it, it’s clear, none of the 48% who said “nothing” believe what the CSIRO, NOAA, NASA and the Bureau of Meteorology are selling. These are the die-hard skeptics. Since we live in a democracy I have to ask — which side of politics speaks for them? (Looking at you Liberals and Nationals). And which journalists at the ABC ask the questions this half of the country are thinking? Obviously, not a single one.
The few small sane political parties that do speak for half the population (or more) are treated like anti-matter, so most voters have no idea who they are.
And lets not forget the 45% who said they’d spend a tiny one or two dollars a week. Clearly, they have no idea the government is helping themselves to so much more. If conservatives could suck up the courage to explain what the costs are, and how pointless they are, 93% of the votes are there for the taking. Most of the country are skeptics, men and women, young and old.
After 30 years of climate agitprop (or perhaps because of it) it’s a rather devastating testament to the loss of whatever prestige university professors used to have.
And worse, it’s a bit of a cluster bomb on the idea of democracy. The Blob has been siphoning off this money for years, and 93% don’t want to spend it, and yet the money keeps flowing.
IPA Poll: Attitudes towards Net Zero, Daniel Wild, May 15th, 2025
Image by taiga_valley_media from Pixabay
It does not matter what we say we want.
What matters is what the media say we want.
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There are many stories on the web about people leaving their birth country:
This Aussie Couple Is Leaving for MALAYSIA 🇲🇾 – Here’s Why!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OviFPft3snE
Pros and cons of retiring to Cyprus
https://gk-lawfirm.com/publications/pros-and-cons-retiring-to-cyprus/
Buying a house in Japan
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZbtcsjsQ4vY
Renting in Japan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAGNMCsCixc
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It was interesting to read the one about Cyprus. We used to consider (back in 1970 or so!) having a place here until the invasion of 1974 happened. The place we had been thinking of was in the Morphou-Zeros area but we were unwell the day arranged to inspect it. There was no further opportunity to inspect as we had bookings on the car ferry. The house would have been lost in 1974.
There was also the important consideration of where family are. Siblings are in England and most offspring in Australia, so we became Australians! We are happy and generally value our life where we live and have enjoyed the occasional visits to lovely Cyprus.
Whatever the stupidities of the global malfeasance re so-called climate change and net zero, moving countries isn’t the answer for most people I suspect.
British friends who did move here seem to move back to Britain in old age; family matters and one’s families don’t necessarily want to move away from home base.
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Annie, we left Scotland in 1966 for a two year stint with my company in Australia. We are still here!
What is happening to this country is heartbreaking. My wife says, from time to time, “where can we go to get away?” My reply, always – tell me where it is better at the moment. With the exception of the US, thanks to Trump, the entire western world is going down the gurgler. I still love my Homeland, but could not live there now with the SNP in government there and Labour in what they call “government”. We will see it out, bit at 84 I doubt if I will see Australia recover to its former glory. Sad.
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Yes and the media won’t tell you yesterday around 8 pm solar , battery and wind were generating a massive 7% of all power needed on the eastern seaboard of Oz .
That’s Queensland , New South Wales , Victoria , Tasmania and South Australia not to mention the nations capital I suspect .
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Great stuff, Jo. I think if there was a real discussion on net zero where the real costs and outcomes were actually told the story would be different. As I scan news sites from US and Europe (not Australia except Sky) we find most countries are realising it is impossible. A mix of sources for energy are being pursued, yet we blunder on with no mention of the real cost, Read last night Victoria will give 5% of their land to renewables.
Your breaking story yesterday should shake everyone up.
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PS Victoria now reportedly giving 7% not 5% of their landmass to renewables!
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Why stop at 7%?
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Silly you David, the other 93% is native title or active native title claim, can’t touch that. Of course, when what’s her name brings in the treaty what a bonanza of cash in perpetuity that will be.
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Gee the rates and property taxes on all that native title land must really add up.
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Will the councils in these areas claim apply a rates bill to the land.
It should be assessed as capital improved and industrial. That alone should drain the solar factories of maybe $100k per year.
If not…. Why not?
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Has anyone actually SEEN what rates a solar factory pays?
The capital improved value is surely going to be very high, these things don’t grow on trees and have been built using a contract price that MUST be available to the council either on request or via the company’s tax submissions.
So…. do they pay their fair share?
And… if they have batteries on board, do they pay, (in Vicdanistan), a hell of a lot more into the fire services levy? If not, why not?
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And if not, then that’s just another taxpayer subsidy to Big Green.
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Good news.
It looks like there’s a huge market of sceptical people out there.
That’s contrary to the standard Leftist biased polls that falsely suggest lots of people are concerned. They either lie as Leftists tend to do, or ask misleading questions.
I’d be more inclined to believe a poll by the IPA.
It’s too bad that the fake conservative Liberal Party didn’t understand people’s lack of concern about this issue plus also rid itself of anthropogenic global warming True Believers.
It may have helped them win the election. So many list opportunities by the Libs.
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I was sceptical about Susan Ley, but thought I would give her the benefit of some doubt. That she wasn’t a fully blown climate warmist. I noted a couple of days ago in her press conference she was asked about Net Zero etc. After several questions she admitted the it would be good for Australia to reduce its emissions. Hence, there’s no doubt, she’s a believer in the climate cult, just like the rest of them. What a shame Matt Canavan didn’t get the nod for National Party leadership. That may have made a difference to LNP policies.
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Living in the UK I have not heard of her but I wonder why she did not say something along the lines of “I support using energy more efficiently where possible. That would, among other things, reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.” Who would be able to disagree with being more efficient?
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I don’t think people like Dutton and Ley believe in the climate cult so much as they fear getting offside with the Left. Dutton showed he didn’t have the backbone to take an opposing stance and early signs indicate neither will Ley. The consensus narrative on climate still prevails. Many buy into it wholeheartedly whist others are merely apathetic and accept incoming policies without bothering to do any research to check whether or not they are viable. And sceptics struggle to get a rational ear when they convey their opinions and facts…
Jo’s been showing polls that clearly indicate a lot of Australians either don’t believe in AGW or don’t want to personally invest in initiatives to combat it. If the true cost and unreliability of renewables can be recognised by most Australians (or any other national population for that matter), then the consensus may begin to be undermined.
By the way, l totally agree with you on Matt Canavan. When he takes a stance, it’s based on his principles, not on what the majority believes in. He’s hardly been sighted in MSM in recent years unless he says something controversial that the Leftists can target.
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Washington State passed a law called the Climate Commitment Act that requires large CO2 producers to pay an indulgence. This raises the price of almost everything sold or done in the State. One estimate is that his raises the price of gasoline between 50¢ to 65¢. Last November, citizens voted to keep this law with a 62% majority. Now the average price per gallon of gasoline in WA is $4.34 while next-door in Idaho it is $3.29. Oregon, another left coast state has $3.96.
Many citizens do understand there is nearly a direct cost of this law.
Yet 62% still voted to keep it.
How this relates to the IPA poll is a mystery.
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John F. Hultquist:
Is there much traffic near Idaho for people “shopping” for cheaper gasoline?
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Yes. The major highway in the northern part is Interstate 90. The large city of Spokane is just to the west. Major fuel stops are 2 kilometers east of the Washington State border.
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How observable reality in Oz relates to the IPA is a mystery also. As a nation we just returned a government that will tax us to oblivion for nett zero. I guess while people say they don’t want to pay, the fact they are paying and will soon pay more is obfuscated through enough layers that they don’t see it as an election issue.
Carbon certs, carbon tax suppliers, inflate energy costs, inflate vehicle costs, FITs, EV subsidies. Gee why is everything so expensive? but no I don’t want to pay for nett zero.
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Jo, you forgot to put Experts in inverted commas.
“Experts”.
More suitabler.
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But but it’s working! Those bird-mincing prayer wheels are drawing up cold air making SE Aus colder than New Zealand: heck, even thou BoM is warning Taswegians to beware of snow to 500m if they venture outside today… $ucces$!
Thankfully the wind’s coming in from the opposite direction here so we’re basking in an ongoing Indian Summer of calm warm bliss, despite loony Greens wanting to raise taxes even more to achieve something they call a ‘stable climate’. Children say the funniest things.
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Whereas those with childlike minds say stupid things.
Incidentally recently in South Australia we have had rather cold temperatures over night (but our ‘mountains’ aren’t that high, Mt. Lofty has to have 3 TV transmitter towers on it so people can locate it.) – nothing unusual (reminds me of the middle 1060’s) but it is coming your way.
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Correction…not childlike…surely you mean childish?
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I know you’re being facetious , but for the last 10 days most of southern Australia has been in the dunkelflautes or wind doldrums. Those giant fans have not been fanning. Wind has done squat in terms of electricity production and it’s been coal doing the bulk. You would have to plaster solar panels over half of Australia and have battery storage on every street to make up for that enormous shortfall.
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Well, they’ll be paying anyway! ..Bowen-
““The Liberals said they wanted a referendum on energy, and the Australian people decided.”
He was making it clear that Labor was claiming a mandate for its plan to remake Australia’s energy system… any prospect of turning to nuclear power has been parked, and as a result, the nation’s fleet of old and decaying coal-fired power stations will be shut down, mostly over the coming decade…Government support – and predictable, stable policy – is vital for an industry whose projects might deliver extraordinarily cheap power in the long run, but only after huge outlays upfront. ”
They’re pushing that this election win will cement the disaster of ruinables into the country’s infrastructure so deeply the next Govt won’t be able to change it.
..and the bullsh1t is thick.. Australia will be an exporter of green steel, exporting the green energy in such products. blahblahblah.. but the main thing is ‘the Govt must support these investors’ So keep the subsidies rolling and we will get rich while ruining your country!
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/labor-s-victory-has-locked-in-an-ingredient-vital-to-supplying-super-cheap-power-20250513-p5lyue.html
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I note Bowen isn’t using the word “mandate”, it’s more like “endorsement”. Which it isn’t either, because contrary to the 2019 fed election, climate change and energy were barely discussed during the 2025 campaign. All I remember from the ALP was free stuff and Albanese showing his Medicare card.
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Again this proves how clueless and dumb some ( most?) people are and yet they’re living in a dream fog.
The 3 Uni study + Nous Group tells us that toxic, unreliable W & S will cost up to 9 TRILLION $ and destroy up to 28,000 klms of our environment and yet people will still vote for it.
Yet the same voters don’t want to spend SFA on so called dangerous CC, even if the oceans are boiling and it will soon become an existential threat? Just ask the US DEMs and the dopey Biden donkey.
When will we regain the ability to think?
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When we are smacked in the face with a series of potentially catastrophic black outs
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Still pollyanna waffle.
What exactly will stop Bowen et al from persisting ? Practical, sensible measures ?
Of course people don’t want to pay higher taxes and power bills. So ? Sufficient “subsidies” to the remaining coal and gas fired generators, manufacturers and domestic households will diffuse and manage this. All paid for by printing money.
A well-sufficient majority voted for the Spanish experience. This is what we will get.
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There was a time when you could tick a box and buy carbon offsets for your airline ticket. Is it still an option or was it a futile effort to ask?
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We always refused to cough up, on the grounds of having planted lots of trees!
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Perhaps the Climate Realism show might be able to mop up the last few percent of true believers hanging around from the IPA’s poll.
Dr Roy Spencer is the special guest at 28.5 minutes and he wants to ask whether a lot of our so called warming is just urban warming or heat island effects and not the fault of co2 emissions?
Could it be true?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/16/live-at-1-p-m-eastern-shock-climate-report-urban-heat-islands-responsible-for-65-of-global-warming/
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A gaggle of councillors from Auckland city (pop 1.5 million) last week issued a report on how they discovered parts of the urban built-up area were 3 degrees warmer than semi-rural and beachside suburbs on the periphery.
Instead of exclaiming the Crisis™️ is a bad joke based on cooked data they proposed charging higher rates to fund ‘cooling projects’, ie. planting trees, amongst the concrete steel glass tarmac downtown area.
Even when the bleeding obvious is staring them in the face, their Agenda-training leads them off down the path to Never-never Land where the mythical Money Tree lives. Time to Get Out Of Paris (GOOP) & A-30.
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The more I hear, the more I fear.
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Greg, during, my working life owning and running a landscape design and build business, I attended a meeting with Melbourne City Council and was forced to sit through an agonising presentation on the state of play with regard to their ‘climate policies’. The nuff- nuff in charge of open space planning expressed complete surprise at the ‘revelation’ that their ultra scientific temperature readings revealed that temperatures under the shade of trees in their grassy parks were up to 10 degrees C cooler than other parts of the city in full sun.
After gagging on my free coffee, I remarked that my cat knew that and could have saved them much time and (ratepayers) money spent on that vital piece of research.
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Amazing.
Perhaps they don’t have cats (or trees) in their CBD apartments?
Also they probably never left a thermometer on the garden table in full sun.
Mine almost exploded… under the Laserlite verandah it was 30*C…
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I’m not convinced we live in a true democracy in Australia. It’s certainly described that way by the politicians/bureaucratic blob and the media when it suits them. As an Australian with one solitary vote I feel rather powerless in terms of the future of this country. Doesn’t matter who I vote for. I voted Tony Abbott got Malcolm Turnbull , voted Scott Morrison and ended up with Nut Zero and COVID zero/ Vaccine only mandated public health. Voted No in the Yes/ No referendum but find my state ( and others ) are ploughing ahead with aboriginal representation at that level. I’ve never been asked about having 3 flags or if I support decarbonization of our once cheap, reliable power grid. So much for having a say. We need a new word or phrase for democracy in this country- any suggestions?
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Fakeocracy.?
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Idiocracy
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Or kakistocracy
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Australia’s science community are democratic. They vote on, and promote, the new laws of physics and chemistry that control the climate.
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I’m liking idiocracy so far. Any one else got suggestions?
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Dumbocracy – A democracy , particularly an ineffective or dysfunctional one. That’s Australia.
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So far, soft Communism, more to come.
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PLEASE package this story up and send it to every member of the Coalition, and all of their staffers.
Don’t allow it to languish in a world where people already agree with it.
PLEASE send it to The Australian which just might actually publish it, if it’s on a day when its Lefty censors are on leave. Go straight to the editorial team.
This is empirical proof that the scam is in its death throes.
Use it to the fullest.
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Would it be correct to assume that since there is no reference to CO2 in this energy transfer work, it is unlikely to be a driving climate or weather ?
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Energy%20Transfers%20in%20Atmosphere%20and%20Ocean&author=A.%20Gassmann&author=R.%20Blender&author=C.%20Eden&author=A.%20Iske&publication_year=2019&book=Energy%20Transfers%20in%20Atmosphere%20and%20Ocean
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Am i right that only part of the nett zero bill shows up in your electricity bill. There are subsidies that are paid to climate bureaucracies and green schemes and green hydrogen nonsense that dont get added to your bill but are just as real as being a cost to taxpayers. There must be costs that show up as part of increased budget deficits and that the fact that people dont see on their power bills they are just as real. For instance the power rebates of $150 plus what’s already given total $8.2 billion . This is effectively paid for by every taxpayer.
Its not how much you are prepared to pay for nett zero but how much are you prepared to have taken from you by this government without you knowing.
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I think we’ve just had a rather large referendum on things like net zero, immigration, taxation and many other issues facing this country. Despite only receiving 34% of the primary vote the party who promises net zero by 2050 (at the latest) increased their majority in parliament. Doesn’t get much plainer than that. And if you’re struggling with finding a logical explanation for our current situation have a look at the link below.
https://caldronpool.com/the-comfort-of-chains-why-people-choose-big-government-over-freedom/
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Safe is certainly a word I heard many times through the course of the last election.
However, Labor have control over the three propaganda arms of government; their ABC/SBS heavily promoting TDS and Dutton being from the same mould as Trump, BoM finding ways to hype every weather event and CSIRO making BS sound plausible.
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You’re right. That is exactly what happened to the GST.
Oh, wait a mo, didn’t GST get a second go with a better case presented ……. ?
[Hope this reply goes in the right place this time]
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Odd that Australians refuse to pay for NetZero goals, but actually do so every hour of every day in their energy bills and costs of food/goods/transportation.
The hidden costs are paid, but the citizenry seemingly refuse to see it.
What one “chooses” to pay is far different from what one “actually” pays.
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You’re right. That is exactly what happened to the GST.
Oh, wait a mo, didn’t GST get a second go with a better case presented ……. ?
Oops that was meant to be #15.1.
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This is a very narrow perspective on the costs. On this measure alone, I would be applauding the efforts to embrace “renewable” energy. I have not had a household energy bill for 14 years. A few people I know have banked income from rooftop solar over the past decade. Once my government sponsored battery gets turned, my household energy cost will be $1.04/day most days.
The true costs go way beyond higher electricity bills for the disadvantaged; including:
1. Rampant inflation because everything you buy has a component of electrical energy in its supply chain.
2. Loss of productivity because there is a huge amount of Australia’s valuable engineering and trade force directed at building inefficient energy collectors.
3. Large areas of Australia’s farmland and forests are being covered in solar panels, wind turbines and power transmission lines; destroyimg valuable habitat and mincing bird life.
4. Free enterprise and free markets have been replaced by government dictates and highly regressive cross subsidies.
5. Extracting wind energy and carpeting large swathes of land in hard, dark surfaces is causing local climate change in regions of Europe and the USA. Offshore wind farms in Australia are poised to do the same in a more fragile environment.
6. Any heavy industry and manufacturing in Australia only survives through government support – so all face escalating sovereign risk
7. Australia is dependent on China for income from mined resources to pay for all the imports of manufactured goods from China.
8. The electricity grid has ever mounting risk of comp[lete shutdown due to instability from weather dependent intermittent generators.
The direct costs of electricity to disadvantaged households is a miner component of the damage NetZero policy is doing to Australia.
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Rick,
Renewable energy has raised the cost for everyone but the people who used the subsidies like you . The government has ignored the realities in favour of tilting the scales towards renewables . Every unit of production requires a unit of energy and that is why the cheapest goods are coming from the countries with the cheapest energy . We take for granted that when we flick the switch , we get power and when that stops no amount of money will help .
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It doesn’t matter if Australians reject paying for Net Zero.
Instead, Labor in its time-honored fashion will just steal it like the thieves they are.
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Everyone here needs to send an email to Sussan Ley – before she finishes her “listening” exercise – telling her to abandon Net Zero because (a) that will win the Libs a ton of votes (like Reform in the UK) and (b) it’s the right thing to do for the people because Net Zero is forcing up electricity prices and stuffing up the grid (witness Germany, Denmark, UK sky-high electricity prices, Spain, Portugal blackout).
[email protected]
NB. Use your own words. Include every other LNP MP that you can.
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We’ll have to wait and see who is chosen to take on Blackout Bowen. There is plenty of ammunition.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/05/16/live-at-1-p-m-eastern-shock-climate-report-urban-heat-islands-responsible-for-65-of-global-warming/
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Good idea.
I did write to Mss Lay the day after she was selected.
Promised to vote Liberal again if they do some actions – first on the list was abolish Net Zero and all/any subsidy to RE.
But I had written to Dutton same things and it did not sway his minions.
Perhaps more of us could do that?
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When someone tells you that climate models are rubbish at predicting the future, don’t believe them. Even the relatively simple models of the 1970’s have been spot-on.
https://x.com/hausfath/status/1922794856054702160/photo/1
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The IPCC 1990 FAR predictions were wrong
Have the 1990 IPCC predictions been proved completely, unarguably and utterly wrong? Yes.
They predicted that if our emissions stayed the same, temperatures would rise by 0.3 C per decade, and would be at the very least 0.2, and the most 0.5. Even by the most generous rehash of the data, the highest rate they can find is 0.18 C per decade which is likely an overestimate, and in any case, is below the very least estimate, despite the world’s emissions of CO2 continuing ever higher.
Climate Scientist Matthew England called that “very accurate”. Since when did 0.18 = 0.3? (Shall we call it “climate maths”, or just call it wrong?) The IPCC had a whole barn wall to aim at, and a battalion of government funded gold plated AK-47s to hit the target, but they still missed.
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There is a lot more to climate than just a global average temperature. Just about every regional forecast was wrong on just about every count. It’s a bit rich to claim that if you add up all the erroneous regions and discard every factor but one then your models are accurate if they get that one single number about right. Except that, as Jo Nova points out in comments here, they didn’t even get close with that one single number.
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That was click-bait on Zeke’s part.
It’s not really what his paper (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2019GL085378) said.
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This repeats a survey that the IPA reported in 2021 or early in 2022. The energy realists of Australia circulated the results of the survey to all of the state and federal politicians and a long list of journalists in note 22.5 March 2022.
A warning to all politicians obsessed with Net Zero
Briefing Note 22.5 March 2022
Dear
Most people in the general public are not obsessed with net zero at all costs. That is clear from a poll conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs.
Activists and media pundits who loudly and visibly demand more action are out of step.
61% of Australians agree the federal government should be more focused on defending Australia’s security than pursuing a net zero emissions target
72% of Australians want affordable energy bills and reliability to be at the core of Australia’s energy policy – not net zero
92% of Australians are unwilling to pay above $100 per year for net zero policies
The link to the results on the IPA site is no longer available. Regrettably the link to the note on our site is not alive either but it doesn’t matter because it is the recent IPA survey results that people need to consult at present.
Congratulations to the IPA for repeating the survey.
This is the real mandate that is to say it is the real demand for action and not the meaningless verbal expression that is provided in answers to loaded questions designed to elicit support.
THE NOTE CONTINUED
The same applies to blaming the recent floods on climate change.
The public favours practical measures over magical thinking on climate. According to an editorial in The Australian 22/3/22:
A survey of flood-hit residents by insurers found that only 11% of residents in Brisbane, northern NSW and western Sydney blamed climate change for soaring home insurance costs.
94% said there should be better controls on where homes are built.
The Bureau of Meteorology is under attack again for misleading reporting. Recent falls at Lismore airport were claimed as a record but the site has only been used since 2003. The full record kept at Lismore central shows that the wettest year on record was 1893.
The public are entitled to more professional service from the Bureau of Meteorology and they are also entitled to have their views taken seriously by politicians ahead of radical climate alarmists.
THE FULL LIST OF BRIEFING NOTES
https://www.flickerpower.com/index.php/search/categories/general/list-of-briefing-notes
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That IPA poll should have surveyed people’s opinions on the iniquity of how much we’re already being slugged for the NetZero scam.
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Simon, ref #21
Models?
As I’ve said many times before, those things are NOT models.
Very few people around the world would have my education and training in modelling complex interactive physical and chemical systems and I can confidently say that the claims of the Climate Modellers are simply complexified verbalism designed to give the impression of truth.
Note the word “impression”.
Climate models are simply junk advertising.
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I picked up my nieces from school just before the election. We had some idle chatter about what one learnt in science. She replied, sheepishly, about how Dutton’s nuclear plan is bad.
And as a teacher, your life will be made hell if you refuse to play along.
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I don’t think they have teachers anymore.
They’re indoctrinators.
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