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ClimatEnerGeopolitics
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Peter Ridd making progressDear All, Another huge thanks for all the donations. Some have been spectacular in size, but I also know that to many people, especially pensioners, the more modest donations represent a very major personal sacrifice. In the end this is a wonderful group effort. There is no doubt that politicians and the media have been watching this funding campaign and are as impressed by number of donors as the scale of the total amount. I also want to fill you in on the timetable of proceedings. Appealing to the High Court is a two-stage process. The first step is to “seek leave” to have the appeal heard. In this step we must show that the case is important enough to be considered by the highest court in the land. We are very hopeful that we will easily pass this first hurdle – but it is not guaranteed. The second step is the actual appeal hearing. My lawyers will put in the papers to seek leave early next week and JCU will have another month to submit their arguments. It could easily be close to Christmas before we hear one way or another about the leave to appeal. Presuming we are successful in this first step, the actual High Court hearing would be considerably after that. In short, it is highly likely that this will go on for at least another year. So we have heaps of time to reach the funding goal. The good news is that this case seems to have galvanised the Commonwealth government into taking a long hard look at our universities and their proclivity to silence dissenters. The Education Minister Dan Tehan has appointed Sally Walker, former VC of Deakin University, to look at the problem . https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tehan/evaluating-progress-free-speech The Commonwealth government has also indicated it may legislate for free speech at universities (https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/federal-government-not-ruling-out-legislating-free-speech-at-universities/ar-BB17KFCn?li=AAgfYrC ). So irrespective of the outcome of the strict legal proceedings, we are all influencing this very important issue. On another front, there is also considerable movement on the problem of the untrustworthiness of Great Barrier Reef Science institutions. Because the legal proceedings have morphed into a battle for free speech, it is easy to forget I was fired for saying that Reef science institutions were not applying adequate quality assurance systems. Some of this “science” was claiming massive damage to the Reef due to climate change and farming. There has been some draconian new legislation against Queensland farmers based on this questionable “science”. We have just had Senate Inquiry hearings, that was sparked by our battle. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/GreatBarrierReef/Public_Hearings . The Senators were able to extract some very interesting confessions from the science institutions demonstrating the lack of quality assurance in their processes. I am confident that, sooner or later, there will be a full quality audit on Reef science, and other areas of science where governments make important decisions on scientific evidence. Kind regards Peter |
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