Essay by Eric Worrall
Campaigners, I mean senators, are horrified that people don’t believe government climate warnings, and blame a conspiracy of big oil interests for this lack of trust in Green claims.
Australia has to fight back against misinformation about climate change, Senate report says
By business reporter Gareth Hutchens
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The Senate’s select committee on information integrity on climate change and energy released its final report last week.
It sounded an alarm about the health of Australia’s digital town square and the erosion of trust in society, and said we have to clean up our online debates. Climate disinformation, the Atlas Network and Dr Karl
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“A robust information ecosystem is critical to the health of Australia’s democracy and to its ability to meet the challenges arising from climate change — including the need to transition to renewable energy sources,” the report argued.
“However, the committee heard that the integrity of Australia’s information ecosystem is threatened by a proliferation of misinformation and disinformation, which is polarising public discourse and eroding trust in science and knowledge institutions.
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With that in mind, the report has recommended that the federal government explore ways to improve transparency of political campaign activities in Australia, such as the creation of third parties, that are resourced by commercial and corporate interests.
It says the government should explore funding models for independent monitoring support (for example, via the Australian Internet Observatory) to track hidden digital influence ecosystems and provide independent transparency and accountability of online platforms.
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Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-29/senate-report-misinformation-climate-change-recommendations/106497978
The final report is available here.
The section on bad actors follows the usual green playbook, citing Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s inquiry into alleged big oil misinformation, and included a demand that big oil be held accountable for their deception;
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Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid
Accountability for Climate Change
1.40 In April 2024, US Congressman Jamie Raskin and US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse released a joint staff report Denial, Disinformation, and Doublespeak: Big Oil’s Evolving Efforts to Avoid Accountability for Climate Change. The report was the result of a three-year investigation by Democratic Party staff in the US House Oversight and US Senate Budget Committee.
1.41 The report explores the efforts large fossil fuel companies—including ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation and Shell—allegedly undertake to deceive the public and investors about the effect of fossil fuels on climate change and how they undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
1.42 Key observations within the report include:
Fossil fuel companies have understood the effects of fossil fuels on the climate since at least the 1960s but have worked to undermine public understanding of this.
The campaign against climate action waged by these companies has evolved from outright denial of climate change to undermining action using a playbook of deception and disinformation.
The fossil fuel industry uses intermediaries like trade associations and thinktanks to spread false and misleading narratives against climate action.
The industry strategically partners with universities to lend credibility to its deception campaigns while silencing or attacking opposing voices.
1.43 The report did not make recommendations, but noted that the investigation and report had ‘set out new evidence about the extent of the fossil fuel industry’s evolving efforts to avoid accountability for climate change’ and concluded that it was ‘long past time to hold Big Oil accountable for its deception campaign and to take action to undo the harms it has perpetrated‘
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Read more: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/RB000675/toc_pdf/TheIntegrityGapRestoringTrustintheClimateandEnergyDebate.pdf
The report contained a complaint that disinformation had turned people against wind turbines;
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1.46 The report found that bad faith actors had weaponised mis/disinformation to exacerbate community concerns and resistance to offshore wind. In particular, mis/disinformation about the effect of wind turbines on ocean life was said to have circulated through posts on social media platforms, thus amplifying community opposition and creating polarisation. The report highlighted links between this mis/disinformation and fossil fuel companies.
1.47 Recommendation four of the report states that ‘the Australian Government and DCCEEW [the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water] [should] proactively ensure that foreign actors, spam engagement, and misinformation and disinformation do not overpower local community voices from being heard in local public debate’
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Read more: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/RB000675/toc_pdf/TheIntegrityGapRestoringTrustintheClimateandEnergyDebate.pdf
The committee provided the following recommendations. Naturally they are mostly about handing out money to leftist causes;
List of recommendations
9.23 The committee recommends the Australian Government support and adopt the United Nations Global Principles on Information Integrity and work to coordinate the application of these principles across government.
9.26 The committee recommends the Australian Government officially endorse the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change launched at COP30 in Belem, Brazil.
9.33 The committee recommends the Australian Government ensure the adequacy of resourcing for regulators such as Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to combat and expose corporate greenwashing.
9.34 The committee recommends the Australian Government explore ways to ensure greater transparency of campaign activities, such as the creation of third parties, that are resourced by commercial/corporate interests in the lead up to a federal election.
9.40 The committee recommends the Australian Government continue to provide funding support for regional and independent media outlets.
9.41 The committee recommends the Australian Government increase funding for social sciences research relating to threats to climate and energy information integrity including potential solutions.
9.42 The committee recommends the Australian Government explore funding models for independent monitoring support (for example, via the Australian Internet Observatory) to track hidden digital influence ecosystems and provide independent transparency and accountability of platforms.
9.45 The committee recommends the Australian Government, through the regular Education Ministers’ Meeting curriculum review cycle, broaden the Australian Curriculum ‘digital literacy’ general capability to strengthen media literacy.
9.46 The committee recommends the upcoming National Media Literacy Strategy incorporate the information integrity framework with examples from the climate and energy domain.
9.47 The committee recommends the Australian Government, coordinated through the Education Ministers’ Meeting, establish stronger oversight and disclosure requirements for corporate engagement within school systems, with clear policies regulating philanthropic or corporate relationships that may interfere with educational integrity.
9.55 The committee recommends the Australian Government consider legislative or regulatory reform which identifies psychosocial harms, places the onus of responsibility in addressing these harms onto digital platforms and monitors effectiveness of their mitigations through regulatory and civic oversight.
9.56 The committee recommends the Australian Government improve the quality of data reported to the Australian Communications and Media Authority from the digital platforms to include for example, thematic breakdown of their reporting inclusive of climate and energy data, denominator data, removal actions and paid advertising related to climate and energy.
9.57 The committee recommends that the Australian Government consider how researchers could be provided adequate legal protection to undertake their work in the digital platform space.
9.58 The committee recommends the Australian Government consider how to improve the complaints resolution process, including about false and misleading information online.
9.64 The committee recommends the Australian Government ensure the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner is adequately funded for community engagement.
9.65 The committee recommends the Australian Government require the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner to provide a summary of threats to climate and energy information integrity in their annual report.
9.66 The committee recommends that the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation consider social licence on renewable energy projects. This could include:
hiring new staff with expertise in social science, behavioural science, and community engagement, and;
ensuring their decision making and advisory bodies have social licence expertise represented.
9.67 The committee recommends that the Australian Government task the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation to provide advice on the costs and benefits of renewable energy creation, storage and transmission alongside clean manufacturing to create data needed to address local social licence concerns.
9.68 The committee recommends the National Health and Medical Research Council fund new research on the effects of wind energy on human health.
9.69 The committee recommends the Australian Government continue to strengthen communication and social licence capability across government agencies and departments. Improved information flow between jurisdictions and across departments will help address knowledge fragmentations across multiple sectors of the economy (e.g. transport, electricity, agriculture, emergency services).
9.70 The committee recommends the Australian Government resource community led engagement driven by organisations with proven track records in local communities. These models may include capacity building for local leaders in rural and regional areas, support for local governments that are contingent on their engagement with community organisations or groups with a proven track record.
Read more: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Information_Integrity_on_Climate_Change_and_Energy/ClimateIntegrity/Report/List_of_recommendations
The worst part of this sad green senate kabuki performance, Australia desperately needs fossil fuel investment, to rebuild our extraction and refinery capacity. Back in the 1970s Australia produced 98% of its own fuel – we could have laughed off the Iran war oil crisis. But with today’s diminished refinery capacity, thanks to decades of political hostility towards fossil fuel, there is a very real risk the Australian economy could grind to a halt.
The greens throwing their weight around in the senate and demanding fossil fuel companies be held accountable has confirmed Australia’s status as uninvestable.
Not wanting a refinery in your country is exactly the same as a toddler “hiding” behind a little scrap of blanket over their eyes.
I assume countries don’t want to count the CO2 emissions of a refinery against their total emissions tally. However, the CO2 emissions go global regardless. Getting your refined petroleum products from China still has the exact same emissions, regardless of the politicians holding up their baby blankets so there are no emissions to “see” here in our green country!
Further, refining is a very “value added” process and provides lots of high-paying blue collar jobs. Smart politicians would be building new refineries or expanding existing ones.
Dumb politicians are happy to just manipulate the gullible members of their electorate.
not only “blue collar” jobs.
Technicians are also required 24 x 7.
The oil companies make the decisions about closing refineries. In Australias case the last 2 got government subsidies , both for every barrel refined , plus a A$250 mill free money for upgrades ( which are a normal part of refineries life)
The local oil production of 1978 of 98% was when Bass Str domestic oil field at its most productive and the economy used 1/4 of the fuel it does today. Now local production is 20% of demand , so 2 local refineries [Nova Geelong and Ampol Brisbane] are enough. The rest of the oil has to be imported anyway and for capitalist reasons the direct petrol/diesel importing wins, despite the greens scaremongering.
The Senate committee is just a lot of hot air, as unlike US the Australian senate isnt an equal branch of the legislature and fortunately all the recommendations are just quickly forgotten words
“Getting your refined petroleum products from China still has the exact same emissions,”
Transport from China to point-of-use?
More and more people aren’t buying into the climate change narrative because after over 40 years of constant fear mongering from the newly self dubbed “Legacy” Press, the extreme weather and tipping points haven’t occurred. So, once again:
1. More rain is not a problem.
2. Warmer weather is not a problem.
3. More arable land is not a problem.
4. Longer growing seasons is not a problem.
5. CO2 greening of the earth is not a problem.
6. There isn’t any Climate Crisis.
Absolutely correct. It’s getting ever harder to read rubbish like this. Clearly a product of politicians and bureaucrats who have only one skill – endless talking about something about which you know nothing designed only to increase your personal power and unearned wealth.
These are recommendation from folks that have read George Orwell’s “1984” and believe it is a manual about how to ensure the government controls all information.
The government needs to stay the hell out of information control, period. Here in the U.S., parents have just won two lawsuits against Meta without the government deciding what is good and bad. Parents have also pressured schools into banning using or carrying cell phones during the school day.
Sooner or later “the people” as declared in the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will decide on their own what is good or bad about information and will take the necessary steps to control it without a government bureaucrat arbitrarily deciding what is best for “the people”.
Well, dream on. The People always lose…by default. A disorganised majority will always lose against an organised minority.
Rule 1 of elite theory.
You are living in a propagandised fantasy world..
Clearly climate change is a communications problem and nothing more. I hope reality bites sooner rather than later.
…and bites with the ferocity of a million sabre-toothed tigers!
I’m not from big oil, Chinese misinformation teams, or the army of climate advocacy NGOs and I’m calling out biased climate science and advocacy science enforcement wherever it runs amuck.
Not about climate, never was. It’s not a secret: The “Collapse” Quote: Strong famously posed a provocative question during the lead-up to the Rio Summit: “Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?” This is now seen as the foundational “mission statement” for policies that prioritize environmental targets over industrial output.
Don’t forget that when Maurice Strong, founder of the UN Environment Programme, retired he went to spend the rest of his life in China. I wonder why?!
If green groups wanted to counter dis-information, they would have debates and make convincing technical arguments. Perhaps their reliance on social scientists is a tacit admission they cannot make convincing arguments.
They rely on the UN framework on climate change but in 35 years of handwringing about greenhouse gases and $10 trillion spent on climate change solutions, emissions have increased by half a billion tons per year for 35 yrs, just moving from developed economies like in Europe and Australia to developing countries in Asia. It’s a colossal, expensive, abysmal failure if the objective is greenhouse gas reduction.
Australia’s CO2 emissions of 437 million tons in 2025 were about 1.1% of the world’s total but they shipped more than 200 million tons of coal overseas which creates 580 million tons of CO2 emissions by their export customers when burned. Whose kidding who?
I recall meeting people from Australia 25 years ago who wanted to bring more value to their domestic economy by doing more value added refinement and manufacturing of the domestic raw materials that Australia has been blessed with. Instead, in that time frame, Australia lost nearly all its domestic automotive manufacturing.
If politicians want to look at accountability, stop the myopic domestic emissions focus and look at how the global emissions and manufacturing has evolved. At best they would have to explain why they are playing their citizens for patsies in the world economy.
These kinds of political committees’ reports are totally redundant.
There is already a global source of continuous censorship of any findings that question or are detrimental to the narrative of AGW and “wind & solar are the saviors of the planet and humanity”.
That source is called Wikipedia.
I have just one recommendation for the Australian Government: go downtown Canberra and buy yourself a pair or sturdy heavy leather boots. Put on and apply forcefully to the behind of the committee members.
No, no, no. A committee is a way to avoid a personal responsibility.
You might have trouble finding a pair of those in down town Canberra
The Australian voters are going to do that based on current trends … most of those idiots will be out of a job on recent polling.
I’d really like to see the proof of
” a robust information ecosystem being critical… for democracies (or any other system) ability to meet the challenges arising from climate change “.
And if this were true then fighting climate change would be impossible on a global scale as a robust information ecosystem does not exist in most country as result of information restrictions.
Of course, as always in an Orwellian scenario it’s the other way around.
The non-existent climate change challenges(that are nowhere even being adressed, as no one is building new reservoirs,pipelines,new farmland etc to compensate for the predicted massive losses) are being used to cripple the information ecosystem.
Based on this ‘final report’ Australia politically looks as hopeless as Ed Miliband in the UK.
Climate objective truths are being officially labeled as misinformation and disinformation:
People aren’t buying what ‘climate science’ has been selling not because of misinformation and disinformation, but because by now more and more people realize it just ain’t so. This final report’s recommendations are therefore as irrelevant as its causality conclusions are wrong.
I think we’re a bit ahead of the UK, in that trust in the ABC and authority is lower in Australia than it is in the UK. But we still had 90% compliance with the Covid vax, so maybe these are just the people I know.
The Covid injuries have been reported in the US with more to come out I suppose.
The injuries from the push for renewables, financial, societal, industrial and personal are not reported in the mainstream news. Rather lies, or obfuscation is the order of the day by politicians journalists and those with vested interests.
I know one person with a vaccine injury and my friend’s gardener had a vaccine injury. Two people within 2 degrees of separation is either an unlikely coincidence or a lot of vaccine injuries. I suspect there will be hell to pay when the lid finally comes off that can.
Side effects are quite common but actual deaths much less, at 14. 140,000 self reported side effects but most of those were mild
The gardener had blood clots, and now needs to take warfarin – which makes scratching yourself while gardening more risky. And my friend had myocarditis symptoms, thankfully subsided since he stopped the vaccinations. Neither of these is as severe as dying, but they seem pretty severe to me.
Obviously it’s a small sample size, and either or both of these conditions might have had nothing to do with the Covid vaccine. There’s a real possibility catching Covid is just as bad as or worse than the vaccine, and that the vaccine is beneficial. But the attempt to silence vaccine critics during the lockdowns destroyed my confidence the medical advice I receive is unbiased.
I personally chose not to have the Covid vaccine after reading this :-
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22536382/
The problem with the SARS vaccine in the study above didn’t happen when the vaccine was administered, the problem occurred when vaccinated subjects were exposed to SARS virus. The vaccine worked, but it worked too well – severe side effects occurred because the immune response was so powerful it damaged the subject’s lungs.
This kind of thing is why vaccines normally have a 5 year+ trial – to ensure the side effects aren’t worse than the disease. But delayed effects are horribly difficult to detect. If the COVID vaccine did have a tendency to produce a pathological reaction upon exposure to the COVID virus, how do you detect that in the statistics? There would be very little correlation between receiving the vaccine and dropping dead, even at the height of the pandemic.
Whatever the truth, we’ll probably never know for sure how severe the side effects of the COVID vaccine are, because too many companies and politicians stand to lose if it turns out the coerced vaccination programme was all a big mistake.
97% of those eligible 12 +
There the Climate Liars go again, projecting. And, to top it all off, they want to punish the truth-tellers, in addition to punishing the “evil” fossil fuel companies. Because that is what paid professional LIARS do.
Every facet of Australian society exists and is maintained by fossil fuels.
Wind and solar have only degraded, and continue to degrade, the electricity system, and cost society huge amounts of money.
They are a parasite that must be removed as soon as possible.
I consider it a great pity that this focus on the oil companies in regards to climate change deflects from the more important influence of those companies on politics and the financial system.
And im not talking about Green politics per se but about the overall influence in the US.
You can start with Standard oil. The corruption runs as deep as the wells..
i’m not suggesting oil companies are saints, Same as any big company they push for their own interests.
But any suggestion big oil impeded the green energy revolution is absurd. If green solutions were any good, they would have swept the world long ago.
I have to correct you: i didnt say they impeded green progress. On the contrary, institutions like the Rockafellar Foundation have actively promoted green tech and fought for rules and regulations. The reason being 2 fold: to be at the table where the new rules were made and to commodify things like carbon, creating the Carbon Credit market. Together w the Gates Foundation the aim is to commodify EVERYTHING, including ‘nature’ ie land.
But the 3d reason was to form a connection w the greens to go against a competitor, nuclear energy.
Big Oil did not want to become an enemy of green regulations. Better inside than outside.
However, the Carbon Credit system has not made any progress, there is criticism about the Green Agenda and some in the industry do not see nuclear as a competitor as oil will continue to be used no matter what.
So, it’s not a slamdunk case.
However, in case of an energy and financial meltdown and the introduction of digital IDs and CBDCs they still want to be at that table. They will shift accordingly. Very smart people there. They have been active a good 150 years.
There we go the old conspiracy theory again 🙂
It’s the old story here: if you’re losing a battle, get the referees to change the rules in your favor. Evidently the alarmists haven’t realized that the general public is not as gullible as they have hoped after too many years of supposedly “existential threats” and “climate crisis” stories, when all they really see is the normal annual fluctuations in the weather and nothing that can’t be handled by the usual individual, corporate and government precautions. So the solution is to try to impose even more unnecessary taxes and restrictions without realizing that these would bring even further resistance and backlashes against those who try to impose them.
“Unless you hear it from us, it is not the truth,” – Jacint Ardern, NZ Prime Minister.
This is how they think, they think that they are in possession of absolute Truth and any who disagree with them are at best foolish.
We are ruled over by very unserious people.
Ardern was almost as unserious as Canada’s resident dimwit, Justin Trudeau. It’s no wonder the country was falling apart after a decade of that idiot running the federal government.
3 election wins does that. Surely you don’t think the previous conservative government were marvels in office, also for 9 years
Not a fair comment ‘cos it is way out of context. Grok it or Chat GPT it.
Australia is fucked. It has been chosen as a proving ground for all the nasty NWO doctrines. Australia is supposed to be an independent nation yet they are chucking in their lot with a failing globalist cabal and they are chucking away their future by crewing the good ship ‘Climate Change’ which is heading for the rocks. Perhaps Australia has been chosen because they are known to be laid back and happy go lucky. They are perfectly placed to benefit big time from the economic powerhouse of Asia yet they hold on to its colonialist roots like it was a mothers apron.
The political reality is starting to play out and if they keep going there are going to be lots of heads chopped off at the next election. The South Australian election was an eye opener to how pissed off the public are getting.
This is polling before a the terrible week for labor this week
https://demosau.com/news/demosau-mrp-poll-feb-march-2026/
It would be worse for labor in senate there would be massive changes.
As an Australian with 30 years of study of our energy misdeeds plus another 30 years in successful mineral exploration, I am sure that Australia’s resource problems will not be fixed while we have leftist Labor governments elected, as at present.
Most of our problems ignore that Australia has the skills and resources to be near energy sufficient, if permitted. Many of us want to take this path, but are blocked.
The blocks come from people who, in the main, have never done actual resources work themselves. This protest mob is mainly keyboard warriors with soft hands and brains. They believe the national wealth can be produced and maintained by writing about it. The concept of the “pick and shovel” is so yesteryear, they claim, with no evidence that they have any idea about what a real, strong economy involves.
Our Federal and most State governments are Labor, with similar thought processes to US Democrats and UK Labour. More keyboard warriors, whose popularity comes from ideas like “we give you, the voter, more free stuff, what is not to like?
….
The problem with this report on Information Integrity is absence of evidence. For example, while claiming that hydrocarbon producers are spending big $$$ against them, they do not or cannot give convincing examples that this has happened. Their claims of Big Oil propaganda are made up on their keyboards. Like in a war, Truth is the first casualty of Propaganda.
Our Labor governments run the propaganda machines. The rot will continue until voters realise this and act to make Australia great again, as it was in the 1980-90 golden times. I am old enough to have felt the difference. If you are young, think again before you think my words are wrong.
Thank you for reading. Geoff S
There are only three things the Australian government needs to institute. Number one, the government can not tell people what to think.
Number two, the government can not tell the people what’s say or not say.
Number three, the government can not tell the people how to power, heat or cool their home nor can they tell them what to drive. There I fixed it for you.
If the oil companies knew of the effects of fossil fuels then so did the politicians of the day as they are just as exposed to the ‘science’ via the likes of the CSIRO.
If the oil companies are to blame then so are the politicians who did not change the law to ban fossil fuels.
As always, it’s not the pollies fault
You can also extend that to the public we have certainly been told over and over again so we are also to blame.
“Aussie Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy”
Organization is an answer to the question – What does the modern world do with all these educated humans it has been producing for the past few decades?
Unfortunately the rest of us are not interested in paying for their poor choice in field of study.
Given the GIGO principle, the committee composition is probably worth noting:
Committee Chair – Peter Whish-Wilson (Greens aka Far Left)
Deputy Chair – Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Labor ~US Democrats)
David Pocock (Independent – de-facto Green, Far Left)
Lisa Darmanin (Labor ~US Democrats)
Andrew McLachlan (Moderate Liberal ~US RiNO)
Matt Canavan (National ~US rural Republican)
To expect the committee to have recommended anything other than protecting Green profiteering and propaganda whilst criminalising facts and debate would be unreasonable.