Tony Abbott denies climate change and advocates carbon tax in the same breath

On Sunday, Megan Evans pointed me towards a 2009 interview with Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott. It's 13 minutes long but what grabbed my attention was an answer towards the end where Abbott throws out a few climate denier myths then seamlessly transitions into arguing that a carbon tax is the best way to put a price on carbon. Yesterday morning, I uploaded the one minute answer onto YouTube:

Later that day, Aussie climate scientist Matthew England passed the YouTube clip onto Tony Jones, host of the popular and influential ABC television show Q&A. And sure enough, last night, the clip was featured on Q&A. You can watch the whole episode here (the clip airs at around the 34 minute mark).

The clip began appearing in the media today. The Sydney Morning Herald led with Abbott dogged by old carbon comment (a Channel Ten clip is embedded on the SMH article). The Australian labelled it the Abbott Carbon Debacle. Abbott was forced to defend his words as were Abbott's fellow MPs George Brandis and Christopher Pyne. Channel Ten's 7pm Project covered it tonight.

The media focus was understandably on the fact that Abbott was advocating a carbon tax as the best form of putting a price on carbon, while he currently describes it as a "toxic tax". But I must confess (which should surprise noone here), I was quite interested in his climate denial myths. In just a few sentences, he managed to hit "the science isn't settled", "it's cooling", "it hasn't warmed since 1998" and "there's no correlation between CO2 and temperature". Now that's some concentrated myth making!

As a climate denier, Tony Abbott is most famous for his statement that climate science is "absolute crap". However, that's just the tip of the iceberg - he actually has a long history of denying climate change science. Skeptical Science have been steadily extending our database of climate myth quotes beyond just U.S. politicians and here is what we have so far from Tony Abbott.

Climate Myths from
Tony Abbott
(Liberal Party, Aus)
What the Science Says
"This is a government which is proposing to put at risk our manufacturing industry, to penalise struggling families, to make a tough situation worse for millions of households right around Australia. And for what? To make not a scrap of difference to the environment any time in the next 1000 years."
29 March 2011 (Source)
CO2 limits won't cool the planet, but they can make the difference between continued accelerating global warming to catastrophic levels vs. slowing and eventually stopping the warming at hopefully safe levels
"Whether carbon dioxide is quite the environmental villain that some people make it out to be is not yet proven."
15 March 2011 (Source)

Through its impacts on the climate, CO2 presents a danger to public health and welfare, and thus qualifies as an air pollutant

"I don't think we can say that the science is settled here. "
14 March 2011 (Source)
That human CO2 is causing global warming is known with high certainty & confirmed by observations.
"Climate change is a relatively new political issue, but it’s been happening since the earth’s beginning. The extinction of the dinosaurs is thought to have been associated with climate change. [unverified]"
9 March 2011 (Source)
Climate reacts to whatever forces it to change at the time; humans are now the dominant forcing.
"The climate has changed over the eons and we know from history, at the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus of Nazareth the climate was considerably warmer than it is now. [...] Climate change happens all the time and it is not man that drives those climate changes back in history. It is an open question how much the climate changes today and what role man plays."
8 May 2010 (Source)
Climate reacts to whatever forces it to change at the time; humans are now the dominant forcing.
"It was the so-called settled science of climate change, that I thought was to be described in language that I wouldn't use on a family program."
2 February 2010 (Source)
That human CO2 is causing global warming is known with high certainty & confirmed by observations.
"These so-called nasty big polluters are the people that keep the lights on. I mean, let's not forget how essential these people are to the business of daily life."
2 February 2010 (Source)

A combination of renewables supplemented with natural gas can provide baseload power.

"If man-made CO2 was quite the villain that many of these people say it is, why hasn't there just been a steady increase starting in 1750, and moving in a linear way up the graph?"
19 November 2009 (Source)
There is long-term correlation between CO2 and global temperature; other effects are short-term.
"I am not setting myself up as the great expert here, but the Hadley Institute in Britain, which is apparently one of the most reputable of these measuring centres, according to press reports, has found that after heating up very significantly in the previous 25 years, there seems to have been a slight cooling, but at a high plateau I'll accept that."
19 November 2009 (Source)
The last decade 2000-2009 was the hottest on record.
"The fact that we have had if anything cooling global temperatures over the last decade, not withstanding continued dramatic increases of carbon dioxide emissions, suggests the role of CO2 is not nearly as clear as the climate catastrophists suggest."
29 July 2009 (Source)
There is long-term correlation between CO2 and global temperature; other effects are short-term.
"I think the climate change science is far from settled."
29 July 2009 (Source)
That human CO2 is causing global warming is known with high certainty & confirmed by observations.
"The thesis that carbon dioxide is uniquely responsible for global warming has run up against a serious problem, and that is the fact that the climate has if anything been cooling slightly over the last decade, while there have been continued massive increases in carbon dioxide emissions."
27 July 2009 (Source)

Global temperature is still rising and 2010 was the hottest recorded.

"I am, as you know, hugely unconvinced by the so-called settled science on climate change. [...] I mean, I just think that the science is highly contentious, to say the least."
27 July 2009 (Source)
That human CO2 is causing global warming is known with high certainty & confirmed by observations.
"Another big problem with any Australian emissions reduction scheme is that it would not make a material difference to atmospheric carbon concentrations unless the big international polluters had similar schemes."
0 July 2009 (Source)

If every nation agrees to limit CO2 emissions, we can achieve significant cuts on a global scale.

"Even if global warming is as bad as the doomsayers claim, it’s better to respond correctly than to respond tomorrow. Man-made CO2 emission have been happening for centuries and I daresay the planet could cope if we respond intelligently in 2012 rather than foolishly in 2010."
19 December 2008 (Source)

A large amount of warming is delayed, and if we don’t act now we could pass tipping points

Note - this list is by no means comprehensive so feel free to post comments with links to other quotes from Abbott on climate change (you get extra kudos if you transcribe the actual quote from interviews, saving us some legwork).

UPDATE 9/6/2011: Matthew England sent a clarifying letter to The Australian which had reported that he'd uploaded the video to YouTube.

Posted by John Cook on Tuesday, 7 June, 2011


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