Donna Laframboise in Sydney.

Donna L in Sydney

"The Delinquent Teenager who was mistakenfor the world's top Climate Expert" **

Guest Post by member - Jim Hawes.

This is the rather cryptic title of a must-read book authored by Canadian investigative journalist, Donna Lamframboise. The French scholars among you will know her surname is pronounced (La–fram-bwa) and means raspberry.

Donna is currently on an Australian lecture tour sponsored by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) and her talk last night (Tuesday 10/7) was heard by a full house of several hundred at the Sheraton on the Park, Sydney.

She began by expressing condolences to Australia in relation to the recent blight of the Carbon (dioxide) Tax and pointed out that Australia is being described as “Fantasy Island" by Roger Pielke Jr. (back up LINK here and here) because of the impossibility of achieving stated Government targets of emission reduction. The Canadian Tory Government has abandoned plans for any such taxes and for any such emission reduction targets.

The bulk of her talk then concentrated on exposing the deception underpinning the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with regard to its claim that only the most expert, peer reviewed science underpins those reports. She cited numerous examples which showed that quite a few lead authors of IPCC reports were youthful graduate students, still working on their doctorates, while many others had strong links to environmental activist groups such as The World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace.

She also exposed the fact that many cited references in IPCC reports were not peer reviewed papers authored by reputable climate scientists but rather were extracted from magazines, newspapers and student essays. She also pointed out that IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri had always insisted that all reports were peer reviewed. However, after her exposure, to her knowledge they have not made that claim since.

Her talk was followed by an extended question time during which, inter alia, she suggested that the best way to induce our conservative politicians to ‘back-away’ from current commitments to Renewable Energy and Emission Reduction targets might be to emphasise the drastic economic impact on low income Australians.

This member of the audience left the presentation highly impressed with her erudite presentation, her charm, her courage and her aura of ‘genuineness’. “More power to her”, I say. Likewise to the IPA.

Jim Hawes

** The title of her book reflects the notion that the IPCC, instead of behaving like a mature, distinguished and trustworthy authority, instead resembles a selfish, deceitful youth who does not know right from wrong. The Australian paperback edition is available from Connor Court publishers at $29.95.