One of Tony Abbott’s senior advisers has accused the United Nations of using false climate change models in order to achieve “a new world order under the control of the UN”.

Maurice Newman is the Australian Prime Minister’s chief business adviser and a well-known climate change sceptic.

In a piece for The Australian, Mr Newman claimed 95 per cent of models demonstrating the link between human CO2 emissions and catastrophic global warming “have been found to be in error”.

He claimed the world had consequently been subjected to “extravagance” from “climate catastrophists” for over five decades, before listing news articles apparently undermining claims about global warming in The Independent and the Mail Online.

“Why then, with such little evidence, does the UN insist the world spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on futile climate change policies?” he asked.

"Perhaps Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN’s Framework on Climate Change has the answer?"

His comments came after Figueres toured Australia and urged the country to move away from coal production, a major pollutant.

Abbott has in the past described coal as "good for humanity" and the "foundation of prosperity" for the foreseeable future, according to Reuters.

Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) Show all 16 1 /16 Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) 1979 “I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons.” Rex Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) March 17th, 2004 "Abortion is the easy way out. It’s hardly surprising that people should choose the most convenient exit from awkward situations.” Getty Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) March 17th, 2004 "Why isn’t the fact that 100,000 women choose to end their pregnancies regarded as a national tragedy approaching the scale, say, of Aboriginal life expectancy being 20 years less than that of the general community?” Getty Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) November 9th, 2006 “I won't be rushing out to get my daughters vaccinated [for cervical cancer], maybe that's because I'm a cruel, callow, callous, heartless bastard but, look, I won't be.” Rex Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) February 2nd, 2010 “The climate change argument is absolute crap, however the politics are tough for us because 80 per cent of people believe climate change is a real and present danger.” Getty Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) February 11th, 2010 “We just can’t stop people from being homeless if that’s their choice.” Getty Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) 2010 "While I think men and women are equal, they are also different and I think it's inevitable and I don't think it's a bad thing at all that we always have, say, more women doing things like physiotherapy and an enormous number of women simply doing housework.” Getty Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) 2010 “I’d probably say I feel a bit threatened… as so many people.” On homosexuality. Rex Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) April 5th, 2010 “Jesus knew that there was a place for everything and it’s not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia.” Getty Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) 2010 On indigenous Australians “There may not be a great job for them but whatever there is, they just have to do it, and if it’s picking up rubbish around the community, it just has to be done.” Getty Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) 2013 “If you want to know who to vote for, I’m the guy with the not bad looking daughters”. Getty Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) January 27th 2014 “I would say to my daughters if they were to ask me this question... [their virginity] is the greatest gift that you can give someone, the ultimate gift of giving and don't give it to someone lightly, that's what I would say.” Rex Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) May 2014 "I shouldn't have done it... I should've been more focused on the caller and less focused on the interviewer.” After winking at a radio show presenter while taking a call from a listener. Getty Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) October 2014 “I am going to shirtfront Mr Putin – you bet I am – I am going to be saying to Mr Putin Australians were murdered, they were murdered by Russian backed rebels.” Getty Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) November 2014 “A good economy is good for the environment…As the world’s largest producer of coal, I’d like to stand up for coal.” At G20 summit Crazy things Tony Abbott’s said (mainly about women) May 2015 'Nope, nope, nope': Tony Abbott makes it very clear that Australia will not accept any Rohingya Muslims fleeing systematic persecution in their home country of Burma AFP

He also reportedly referred to the science underpinning climate change as "crap" in 2009 and used the Brisbane G20 meeting to warn against putting carbon emissions ahead of economic growth.

"The real agenda is concentrated political authority," Newman wrote. "Global warming is the hook.

"It's about a new world order under the control of the UN," he added. "It is opposed to capitalism and freedom and has made environmental catastrophism a household topic to achieve its objective."

His comments were criticised by climate change expert Professor David Karoly from the University of Melbourne, who told the BBC he was considering complaining to the Australian Press Council about the article.