Turnbull govt agreed to grant $640,000 to climate denialist centre
Federal grant to Bjørn Lomborg centre made in Turnbull era, documents show
Department agreement to provide $640,000 grant dates from March 2016, according to documents obtained under freedom of information, Guardian, Paul Karp, 23 Dec 16, The Turnbull government signed an agreement to make a $640,000 grant to Bjørn Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Centre nine months after plans to establish the centre had been abandoned.
The education department may have been under no legal obligation to make the grant, documents suggest.
The funding was used to support the centre’s post-2015 UN development goals project that found limiting global temperature rises to 2C was a poor investment.
A breakdown of costs released on Thursday shows that $482,000 of the Australian funding was spent on professional fees and services including research, “outreach” and forums.
About $146,000 was spent on travel in an ambitious global project convening seminars to discuss the UN development goals in Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and New York.
The project formed the basis of Lomborg’s book The Nobel Laureates’ Guide to the Smartest Targets for the World, which is not widely available in Australian shops.
Documents released under freedom of information show the department only entered a formal agreement to fund the project as late as 21 March 2016. Based on those documents and answers provided by the education department it appears the government did not have any ongoing commitment to the project when the Australian Consensus Centre was canned in June 2015……..
Labor’s innovation, industry, science and research shadow minister, Kim Carr, called on the government to provide a full explanation of the grant.
“The government must explain how and why this grant was still awarded, even after it had terminated the agreement with the university for the Australian Consensus Centre following pressure from the opposition and the research community,” Carr said.
“Malcolm Turnbull cannot hide behind a prior deal made by Tony Abbott – his government signed a fresh contract on 21 March 2016.”
“This use of taxpayers’ money to promote an anti-science conservative agenda shows that Malcolm Turnbull is still beholden to the right wing of the Liberal party.”
At Senate estimates on 20 October, Birmingham said the government had made a “special purpose” decision to allocate funding to the consensus centre, a process that was “terminated”……. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/dec/23/federal-grant-to-bjrn-lomborg-centre-made-in-turnbull-era-documents-show?CMP=share_btn_tw
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