Kirsten Tona’s article on Newpolitics.com.au – Government ignoring climate change while the planet burns (and published on The AIMN as Canberra fiddles while Australia burns) – contained a number of links to the CSIRO website where climate change data and modelling were available to the public.

Within a week of her article being published the links to the CSIRO website were taken down. These were the following links (that no longer work):

Australia’s premier scientific body, the CSIRO, has been quietly beavering away, using proven scientific methodologies to produce realistic models of what climate change may look like in our country.

Global sea levels rose by about 17 centimetres during the twentieth century, and are projected to keep rising . . .

Climate Change In Australia is an initiative of the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), in partnership with the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, through the Australian Climate Change Science Program.

The conspiracy theorist in me jumps on the idea that they may have been removed by the wishes of a government famous for its climate change denial. Perhaps the recent funding cuts to the CSIRO include cutting out information that provides evidence contrary to the government’s stance.

But I’m sure there is a simple explanation. I’ve asked for one:

Dear Sir/Madam. I draw your attention to this article: http://www.newpolitics.com.au/government-ignoring-climate-change-while-the-planet-burns Since the publication of that article a number of the links to the CSIRO’s data and models on the effects of climate change have been removed. I refer to the following: “Australia’s premier scientific body, the CSIRO, has been quietly beavering away, using proven scientific methodologies to produce realistic models of what climate change may look like in our country. Global sea levels rose by about 17 centimetres during the twentieth century, and are projected to keep rising . . . Climate Change In Australia is an initiative of the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), in partnership with the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, through the Australian Climate Change Science Program”. Clicking on those links will now give you the following announcement: OOPS!!! This site is currently unavailable If you are the owner of this site, please contact us at 1-480-505-8855 at your earliest convenience. As a citizen who is concerned about the effects of climate change in Australia and who relies on the excellent work done by the CSIRO in keeping concerned citizens informed, it was disappointing to find that this information has been removed. Was there a valid reason for this? Yours sincerely, Michael Taylor

One AIMN commenter noted that: “The people of Australia have an absolute right to the results of taxpayer-funded scientific research”. Let us see what they say (though I don’t expect a reply something along the lines of “The people of Australia do not have access to the results of taxpayer-funded scientific research because it interferes with the government’s political agenda”).

I’ll keep you posted.

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