Maurice Newman

 Credentials

Maurice Newman is reported to have studied at the University of Sydney, but there are no public reports on which subjects he covered.

 Background

Maurice Newman is a former stockbroker, company director and chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and has been an advisor to several Australian governments. In September 2013 he was appointed chairman of the Tony Abbott-led Government's Business Advisory Council.

Newman is a vocal opponent of wind farms and believes that the science of human-caused climate change is a “delusion”.

Previously, Mr Newman was the chairman of the Australian ASX stock exchange after spending several decades as a stockbroker and investment banker.  In 1984 he was appointed a managing director and, later, executive chaiman at Deutsche Bank. He left that company in 2001.  

He was chancellor of Macquarie University between 2002 and 2008 and was chairman of the public-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 2000 to 2004.

He is a board member of the Queensland Investment Corporation - a state government-owned company which in November 2013 had more than $74 billion of funds under its management.

Stance on Climate Change

Newman has stated repeatedly that the science of human-caused climate change is a smokescreen for vested interests. He believes that the scientists who take part in the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC) have fooled the world into believing climate change can be caused by humans. A “compliant media” has helped to foster the “myth” of climate change, according to Newman.

Key Quotes

The scientific delusion, the religion behind the climate crusade, is crumbling. Global temperatures have gone nowhere for 17 years. - The Australian, December 2013

This is the world of climate change. The science has become an expensive smokescreen behind which vested interests hide. - The Australian, July 2013

While CO2 may be a greenhouse gas, it seems that natural forces dominate climate change, not mankind's emissions. Henrik Svensmark's theory of cosmoclimatology (the role of cosmic rays) may be right. - The Australian, July 2013

The CSIRO, for example, has 27 scientists dedicated to climate change. It and the Weather Bureau have become global warming advocates. They continue to propagate the myth of anthropological climate change and are likely to be background critics of the Coalition’s Direct Action policies. - Australian Financial Review, September 2013

When Mother Nature decided in 1980 to change gears from cooler to warmer, a new global warming religion was born, replete with its own church (the UN), a papacy, (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), and a global warming priesthood masquerading as climate scientists. Selfish humans in rich, polluting countries were blamed for the warming and had to pay for past trespasses by providing material compensation to poor nations as penance. Cutting greenhouse gas emissions became the new holy grail. With a warm wind at their backs, these fundamentalists collected hundreds of billions of dollars from naive governments that adopted their faith on behalf of billions of people. No crusader was ever so effective. - The Australian, November 2012

Even before they threatened my property, I was opposed to wind farms. They fail on all counts. They are grossly inefficient, extremely expensive, socially inequitable, a danger to human health, environmentally harmful, divisive for communities, a blot on the landscape, and don’t even achieve the purpose for which they were designed, namely the reliable generation of electricity and the reduction of CO2 emissions. - The Spectator, January 2012

Key Deeds

April 22, 2014

Newman appears on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's 'Lateline' broadcast, with Emma Alberici, after recently (September, 2013) being appointed as chairman to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's Business Advisory Council. Discussing the topic of climate change, Newman was unswayed by Alberici's mentioning of the fact that there is a “strong consensus” in the scientific community that human activities are causing climate change, citing surveys showing 97% of peer-reviewed climate studies agreeing that climate change is a human-induced problem. Newman immediately dismissed the surveys as having “flawed methodologies” and responded by saying:

“We know that there are a whole host of scientists out there who have a different point of view, who are highly respected, reputable scientists. So the 97 per cent doesn't mean anything in any event because science is not a consensus issue. Science is whatever the science is and the fact remains there is no empirical evidence to show that man-made CO2, man-made emissions are adding to the temperature on earth. We haven't had any measurable increase in temperature on earth for the last 17.5 years. If you look back over history, there's no evidence that CO2 has driven the climate either. So I know that this is a view which is peddled consistently, but I think that the edifice which is the climate change establishment is now starting to look rather shaky because mother nature is not complying.” [2]

December 2013

Newman writes a column for The Australian newspaper, reported in The Guardian, in which he accuses the IPCC of “dishonesty and deciet” and says the science of human-caused climate change is a “delusion”.

September 2013

In a column in the Australian Financial Review, Newman describes human-caused climate change as a “myth” and criticises Australia's science agency the CSIRO and the country's Bureau of Meteorology for “propogating the myth”.  Australia's chief scientist Ian Chubb told the ABC's Lateline program that Newman's comments were “silly”.

March 2010

Speaking as the chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the country's public broadcaster, Newman accused some journalists of succumbing to “group think” in failing to entertain the views of climate change sceptics.

When asked later by ABC reporter Brendan Trembath if he regarded himself as a “climate chnage denier”, Newman responded: “I am an agnostic and I have always been an agnostic and I will remain and agnostic until I've found compelling evidence on one side or the other that will move me. I think that what seems fairly clear to me is that the climate science is still being developed. There are a lot question marks about some of the fundamental data which has been used to build models that requires caution.”

Late 1970s

Newman is a founding board member of the free market think tank the Centre for Independent Studies, which in the 1990s invited and hosted several climate sceptics, including Mark Steyn, Bjorn Lomborg and James Delingpole.

 Affiliations

• Mont Pelerin Society - member since 1976

 Publications

Maurice Newman is not known to have any scientific qualifications and has never had a scientfic paper published on the subject of climate change.

 Resources

1. Biography on Maurice Newman from the Macqaurie University website.

2. “No evidence that man has caused warming,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation's 'Lateline', April 22, 2014. Archived May 8, 2014.