AUSSIE LABOUR PICTURE DOESN'T CUT THE ICE

Climate change is an argument of two sides as this story in the Australian shows and we are squarely on the side of the non believers. Yeah, things may be hotting up (a bit) but we are not convinced that the human element is the key driver.

But the Australian has a lovely bit about how ex Midnight Oil frontman and now Eco Minister for the Rudd Government Peter Garrett has been caught bullshitting.

<--------Its all to do with this pic of the Wilkins Ice Shelf

So Garrett has now pulled back on claims that we will be swamped by a sea rise of 6M. He used the break up of the Wilkins Ice shelf to prove his point that global warming was dramatic.

Mr Garrett claimed the break-up of the Wilkins ice shelf in West Antarctica indicated sea level rises of 6m were possible by the end of the century, and that ice was melting across the continent.

The Environment Minister later sought to distance himself from his comments.

A study released last week by the British Antarctic Survey concluded that sea ice around Antarctica had been increasing at a rate of 100,000sqkm a decade since the 1970s.

While the Antarctic Peninsula, which includes the Wilkins ice shelf and other parts of West Antarctica were experiencing warmer temperatures, ice had expanded in East Antarctica, which is four times the size of West Antarctica.

British newspaper The Observer this month published prominently a story with a photograph of breaks in the Wilkins shelf.

"A huge ice shelf in the Antarctic is in the last stages of collapse and could break up within days in the latest sign of how global warming is thought to be changing the face of the planet," the story began.

In March last year, US news agency msn published the same photograph with a similar story that began: "A vast ice shelf hanging on by a thin strip looks to be the next chunk to break off from the Antarctic Peninsula, the latest sign of global warming's impact on Earth's southernmost continent." The photograph was published by numerous other outlets, including The Australian.

A spokeswoman for the British Antarctic Survey said the photograph in both stories was taken in March last year.

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said the misuse of the photograph and the similar story lines 13 months apart reflected how the Wilkins ice shelf break-up was being recycled annually to fuel global warming concerns.

Senator Joyce said Mr Garrett's entry into the debate demonstrated how it was being hijacked by misinformation.

He is a bloody liar. Lying is common in lefty political circles - Remember the H Fee story ?