It's a climate conspiracy on a unbelievable scale, says Malcolm Roberts and his fan Graham Lloyd at The Australian

Australian Senator Malcolm Roberts grandstanded at Parliament House this morning to show how he is wasting taxpayers' funds since he was appointed to the Senate. He is now being paid by Australians to continue his conspiracy theorising. He presented a 42-page document which can be paraphrased as "climate science is a hoax".

Malcolm has changed from being an anti-government "sovereign citizen" to being a member of the Australian Senate, after getting a whole 77 primary votes! (He only snuck in by being on Pauline Hanson's One Nation ticket.)

Here is a copy from his tweet about the grand announcement - referring to "Major Pauline Hanson" (who is not a "major" or major):

At his announcement, Malcolm Roberts was flanked by the uber-conspiracy theorist Tim Ball and professional climate disinformer Tony Heller. "Major" Pauline Hanson was nowhere to be seen.

.@SenatorMRoberts releases report into CSIRO. Claims the organisation has no evidence that humans are effecting the climate. pic.twitter.com/lIqzCNEeLG

— Caitlyn Gribbin (@CaitlynGribbin) November 6, 2016

Neither Malcolm Roberts or Tim Ball "believe in" the greenhouse effect. Tony Heller is more about pushing disinformation than his "beliefs".

Graham Lloyd at The Australian pushes Malcolm's conspiracy nuttery

Graham Lloyd, the anti-environment editor at The Australian, did himself proud. He wrote up Malcolm's conspiracy theory (minus any mention of Maurice Strong or Jewish bankers). What he didn't do was insert any comment from himself or any climate scientist or anyone else pointing out that Malcolm Roberts is a nutcase at best. It's as if he buys into Malcolm's delusion and wants his readers to as well.

If you can't see the article in the Australian, copy some of the following words from it into Google:

Senator Roberts has rejected CSIRO assurances on climate ­science and called for a due dilig­ence audit of the organisation’s research and methods.

Flanked by international ­climate sceptics, Senator Roberts will today release a 42-page ­rebuttal of the CSIRO’s climate ­science claims.

Except it wasn't a rebuttal. It was nothing more than "I don't and won't believe it". Malcolm doesn't "believe" that global temperatures have been rising, that humans are adding CO2 to the atmosphere, or that there is such a thing as the greenhouse effect. He doesn't accept the mountains of evidence but doesn't say why not. He doesn't explain what he thinks keeps the planet warm enough to sustain life.

Denier conspiracy memes galore

After about 30 pages of climate science denial, Malcolm launched into several conspiracy theories including some he adapted from Tim Ball. For example, he claims that Maurice Strong took over the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO:

Strong was remarkably successful in gaining control of weather agencies such as BOM, NOAA (USA), UK Met Office, Environment Canada in major western nations and science agencies, hijacking once honest agencies, such as the British climate research facilities established by Henry Lamb, and through politicians such as Al Gore getting control over government agencies such as NASA-GISS and through government funding of agencies such as CSIRO. 

This is classic Tim Ball, mixing Maurice Strong and "Henry" Lamb. Malcolm threw in an "algore is fat" for good measure.

Malcolm's "theory" is that climate scientists have been committing fraud for decades so they can get money to do fraudulent research - and no-one but him and a handful of conspiracy nutters have twigged. No scientist has discovered the hoax yet. It's only those who dwell in the dark recesses of the deniosphere who are a wake up.

There's more:

• Former Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd (Labor Party) and John Howard (Liberal Party) accepted science because they wanted power. 
• "Major international banks" accept science for the "trillions of dollars" they are going to collect.
• Universities are in it for grants.
• Parliamentary back-benchers accept science to "support the party line".

There's still more. Every member country of the UN supports it because their representatives are incapable of anything else. He doesn't explain why member countries of the UN disagree over many other things. Malcolm wrote:

The UN itself as a vehicle for people such as Maurice Strong who pushed a personal agenda as a way of taking political power and control over others. This is particularly easy in massive bureaucracies such as the UN where accountability is non-existent and the representatives from many countries follow like a herd; 

In other words, Malcolm Roberts accepts that, except for a few tin-foil hat conspiracy theorists like Malcolm Roberts, Tim Ball and Tony Heller, the entire world accepts that climate change is real and we're causing it.

Mind control of the herd

Malcolm doesn't go so far as to use the conspiracy word "sheeple" this time around, but he does get close with his "herd". He wrote:

Examples of herds include parliament, universities and agencies depending on external funding.

Deluded Malcolm thinks conspiracy theorists are in the majority, and that climate science is "mind control". He wrote:

Misrepresentation of science and climate is a form of control over people’s minds. It is yet another example of the everpresent tussle between control and freedom that has been playing out as part of the Human Condition for millenia. It is another example of the tyranny of the minority who control the political and media agenda. 

Special mention of other tin-foil hatters

Malcolm Roberts called out some people who he regards as fellow climate science deniers, disinformers and tin-foil hat wearers. He includes Andrew Bolt, who is a hard core denier but who has distanced himself from Malcolm Robert's anti-semitic conspiracy theories.

• Politicians: Craig Kelly, George Christensen, Cory Bernardi, and Pauline Hanson.
• Scientists and ex-scientists: Peter Ridd, Stewart Franks and Cliff Ollier
• Journalists (and bloggers): Andrew Bolt, Paul Murray, Alan Jones, Chris Kenny, Grant Goldman, Graham Lloyd.

References and further reading

Malcolm Roberts' climate change press conference starts bad, ends even worse - article by Amy Remeikis at The Age

Climate Change Conspiracy Theorist's Report "A Pile Of Horse Shit" Writes Environment Editor - article by Graham Readfearn at DeSmogBlog

One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts is in denial about the facts of climate change - article by John Cook at The Conversation

One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts wrote bizarre 'sovereign citizen' letter to Julia Gillard - article by Michael Koziel at the Sydney Morning Herald

From the HotWhopper archives

• More conspiracy theories from WUWT: It's a strong climate plot - June 2015
• Jo Nova and Eric Worrall, racism, conspiracy theories and climate science denial - July 2016
• Australia's crackpots... - July 2013
• Malcolm Roberts' 15 minutes of international fame - discussion at HotWhopper Chat
• Merry-go-round with shonky Steve Goddard and slayer HockeySchtick1 - March 2014 (Steve Goddard is the pseudonym of Tony Heller)
• Various articles about Tim Ball and his wacky conspiracy theories