SHORTEN PUTTING OVER A BIG CON

CALLING Bill Shorten a hypocrite over the Adani coal project is like charging a bank robber with mere littering.

The Labor leader has been rightly attacked for telling rural Queensland voters he’s the miners’ friend, but telling urban green voters that he hates — and may block — the Adani project

But what about trying to sell a massive falsity?

To get to attacking Adani, Shorten has had to peddle amazing deceits and exaggerations — like these: MAN-MADE global warming is happening fast. “Staggering,” warns Shorten. In fact, satellite measurements show the world’s temperature last month was just 0.2C above the 30-year average. MAN-MADE global warming is dangerous. “A disaster,” claims Shorten. In fact, the small warming over the past century has coincided with record grain crops and huge rises in living standards. ISLANDS are drowning under rising seas. “Paradise is drowning,” insists Shorten, after touring Pacific islands. In fact, a University of Auckland study shows that of 27 Pacific atoll islands, 43 per cent are stable in size and another 43 per cent actually grew.

THE Great Barrier Reef is being ruined. “In peril,” cries Shorten. In fact, Professor Peter Ridd faces a gag order from James Cook University for noting “much of the ‘science’ claiming damage to the reef is either plain wrong or greatly exaggerated”.

BUT the predicted disasters are happening! “Deeper droughts,” prophesied Shorten. In fact, Tim Flannery in 2007 predicted that “even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams”. In 2000, Dr David Viner, of Britain’s highly influential Climatic Research Unit, claimed “children just aren’t going to know what snow is”. See the monster snows now in Europe.

WE can stop the warming — and should. “Doing our fair share,” Shorten calls it. In fact, Australia — with less than 2 per cent of global emissions — can make no measurable difference. And Prof Bjorn Lomborg was banned from two local universities after pointing out that even if every nation honoured Paris accord promises to cut emissions, the temperature would fall just 0.048C by 2100.

IT won’t cost much to cut emissions. Labor leader Kevin Rudd claimed a decade ago that Labor’s planned cuts of 20 per cent by 2020 would cost just “$1 per person per year”. In fact, check your soaring electricity bills.

No, Shorten isn’t just a hypocrite. Trying to sell a massive falsity is far worst.