Deluge of misinformation<\/p>\n
But along with a deluge of information in the report \u2013 some old and some new \u2013 has come a reliable downpour of misinformation from climate sceptical politicians and commentators.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, backbench Nationals senator Matt Canavan was given ten minutes on Radio National\u2019s flagship Breakfast<\/a> program to tell listeners that the report was all just hype.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a cynical attempt to spread fear and panic among people,\u201d said Canavan, who said this was evidenced by the fact that \u201cthe headlines\u201d in the report had warned about increased cyclones.<\/p>\n \u201cNot until you get to the detail of the reports, do you read that in fact, cyclones have been decreasing in Australia, and they only have low confidence that they may increase, they may have no change, or they may increase. You don\u2019t get that in the headlines.\u201d<\/p>\n But did the report actually say in its \u201cheadlines\u201d that cyclones might increase? No.<\/p>\n Cyclones are a \u201cpriority hazard\u201d looked at in the report, but the overview document says this about them: \u201cWhile some hazards are likely to occur less often, when they do occur, they may be more intense and occur in different locations than previously. For example, it is anticipated that Australia will see fewer tropical cyclones, but proportionally more will be severe under all warming levels (medium confidence).\u201d<\/p>\n Canavan set up a straw man argument that there was a contradiction between the headlines in the report and the detail. But there wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Net zero bun fight<\/p>\n The Coalition<\/a> is in an internal bun fight over its support for a goal to get Australia\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions down to net zero by 2050.<\/p>\n Canavan is one of the most outspoken critics of net zero, and he told the ABC his party\u2019s grassroots members had voted in multiple state conventions to get rid of the policy.<\/p>\n \u201cShouldn\u2019t we be investing in things that make us sovereign and independent as a country? Net zero doesn\u2019t do that,\u201d said Canavan.<\/p>\n To offer an example, Canavan said Australia no longer manufactured urea \u2013 the key agricultural fertiliser. This was, apparently, because of net zero.<\/p>\n Canavan doesn\u2019t say that one of the world\u2019s biggest urea manufacturing plants is being built in the Pilbara, one that could produce two million tonnes of the fertiliser each year. Why didn\u2019t net zero stop those plans going ahead?<\/p>\n Australia currently imports about four million tonnes of urea and analysis published by industry group GrainGrowers suggests about half of current imports come from the Middle East.<\/p>\n Canavan says he wants Australia to have sovereign capability \u2013 but not, it seems, if it comes down to generating more of our own energy from renewable sources like the sun and wind to reduce our reliance on imported oil?<\/p>\n Alarmist buttons?<\/p>\n On Sky, presenter Chris Kenny was similarly dismissive of the findings of the climate risk assessment<\/a>, characterising it as a \u201cpublic relations document pushing the alarmist buttons\u201d designed to soften up the Australia public ahead of the government setting a new climate target.<\/p>\n While \u201cclimate alarmists\u201d and the climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen told the public that extreme weather events were getting worse, Kenny claimed they were not.<\/p>\n \u201cThe trouble is the data doesn\u2019t support this,\u201d said Kenny.<\/p>\n \u201cFloods and bushfires are in line with our history, and most of the heat records we\u2019ve seen broken are only records because we\u2019ve lowered the earlier ones.\u201d<\/p>\n Kenny doesn\u2019t say which floods he means (coastal or riverine), but in any case, they are difficult to compare across time because of changes to rivers made by dams or because developments have been built on floodplains.<\/p>\n But according to State of the Climate report<\/a> from scientists at the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, there has been an observed increase in the intensity of rainfall coming from storms.<\/p>\n \u201cHeavy short-term rainfall events are becoming more intense,\u201d the latest report said.<\/p>\n It is well accepted though that as sea levels continue to rise, so will the risk of coastal flooding.<\/p>\n Scientists have linked an increase in the area of forests burning in Australia<\/a> to climate change, and the country\u2019s fire season is now longer <\/a>and many areas have seen an increase in the frequency of days with dangerous fire weather.<\/p>\n Dr Andrew Dowdy, an associate professor at the University of Melbourne and an expert on extreme weather in Australia, says: \u201cThe peer-reviewed science shows<\/a> that severe fire<\/a> and flood risk factors have already increased due to human-caused global heating<\/a>, such that rapid cuts to greenhouse gas emissions are needed including by using more renewable energy sources.\u201d<\/p>\n Kenny\u2019s claim on temperatures likely has its origins in a decades-long campaign from climate science contrarians<\/a> to claim a conspiracy \u2013 with no evidence \u2013 that the Bureau of Meteorology deliberately tampers with its temperature records to make global warming seem more pronounced than it is.<\/p>\n Like many other national weather agencies, the bureau makes adjustments to data in its long-term dataset<\/a> to account for changes at individual sites that might skew the record (think of a building going up next to a weather station, or a station being moved to a new location).<\/p>\n![\"Landmark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/5665.jpg\")
Landmark climate report shows ‘every Australian has a lot at stake’, minister says \u2013 video<\/p>\n