Crying wolf over reef reveals Ley’s costly extremism

CLIMATE scaremongering by the political class has come back to bite Australia, with the UN demanding billions more be spent “saving” an otherwise perfectly healthy Great Barrier Reef. 

With federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley constantly pushing the climate panic button over the reef, the UN has reacted accordingly, placing the World Heritage-listed wonder on its “in danger” list. 

The reef certainly goes through spectacular natural cycles where large amounts of coral are killed, particularly from cyclones, but it always recovers…
Peter Ridd
Marine Scientist

The problem with this ruling is threefold. First, Ms Ley has been exaggerating her climate emergency nonsense, second, the reef is in “excellent health” and, third, Australian taxpayers can no longer afford the billions the UN is demanding be spent.

Just last week Ms Ley continued spouting more climate fear – even while she was pushing back against the UN’s latest ruling.

UNCEASING

Given the minister’s unceasing alarmism, however, there was no other conclusion the UN could logically deliver.

“Climate change is real and is the biggest threat facing the reef,” Ms Ley said in an article in The Australian newspaper – less than a week after the UN’s draft ruling was released.

“Global climate change threatens landscapes, biodiversity, nature and people…,” she continued.

“Notwithstanding the realities we face, I was stunned last week by the draft recommendation that singled out our reef for an ‘in danger’ listing.” 

Huh? What did she expect after allowing dishonest reef alarmists to run rampant for years before climbing onto their bandwagon herself?

Her government has stood silent  – or cheered – while these lunatics cried wolf. It closed its eyes while good people lost their jobs for questioning their motives. Now the government (and Australian taxpayers) is reaping the whirlwind it sewed.

Dr Peter Ridd, a true reef expert who lost his job at James Cook University for being so, said Australia had scored a spectacular own goal.

ERRORS

“Statements about the imminent doom of the reef can be found in important documents such as the 2019 Reef Outlook Report produced by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority,” Dr Ridd wrote in The Weekend Australian newspaper yesterday.

“But this document is riddled with factual errors, exaggerations, logical inconsistencies, irrelevancies and scandalous omissions.

“It clearly has not been subjected to adequate quality assurance and reads more like an ideological document.”

It also reads as a demand for obscene levels of taxpayer funding.

Prof Ridd said the report claimed the reef was at “high risk” from agricultural pesticides.

“Yet it ignores data showing pesticides are in such low concentrations on the reef that they generally can’t be measured even with the most ultra-sensitive scientific equipment,” he said.

“There must be no doubt that the reef is in excellent shape.

“It certainly goes through spectacular natural cycles where large amounts of coral are killed, particularly from cyclones, but it always strongly recovers.”

Dr Ridd said the death of coral made for great headlines, however, its recovery was almost universally ignored.PC

4 thoughts on “Crying wolf over reef reveals Ley’s costly extremism

  1. Twenty thousand years ago, which is an eye-blink in geological time, the “sacred” Great Barrier Reef did not exist. Then over a period of very approximately ten thousand years, sea levels rose a minimum of approx 30 + metres, (remember one could walk from the Australian mainland to Tasmania. And average depths in Bass Strait are 20+ metres). This meant seawater covered large areas of shallower land on the north-east coast of Australia, enabling sunlight and corals to build the GBR.
    No coal-mines/great polluting industries 10-20 thousand years ago.

    This is apparently news to Sussan Ley and a host of others. Whilst all of the latter’s education was obviously incomplete and lacking in certain areas there are absolutely no excuses for not teaching today’s schoolchildren (and their parents ?) pertinent scientific and historical facts.

  2. Who does Susan Ley think she is ? an expert on the reef ? Questions for her .When was the last time she looked at the reef ? Are you qualified to describe the reef as you have ? Are you considering giving the very corrupt U.N. tax payers hard earned money on a scam ? And if you are so concerned about the reef would you please tell us where the 470 million plus that Turnbull gave to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation went ?

  3. Susan Ley – like Falinski, Sharma, Kean, Birmingham and so, so many others – is in the wrong party.

    They saw the word Liberal and instantly identified it with their radical dispositions. Then joined.

    All I can say to them is piss off – before you destroy our nation (which most of your ancestors played no part in building).

  4. Professor Peter Ridd and colleagues, all with decades of on GBR experience as scientists, explain that the GBR is healthy and subject to the natural life cycles.

    The politics and worst of all the UN mob are the worst enemies of the GBR.

Comments are closed.