The Chairman of the IPCC concedes there has been no global warming for 17 years. All the predictions of armageddon are turning out to be wrong. All that's certain is a modest increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, which stimulates plant growth.

The horse is dead. Quit flogging it.

There has been no impact by AGW on this country; see:

http://www.waclimate.net/1908.html

"Australia's hottest ever day claimed on 7 January 2013 had a raw average maximum of 35.1C at 721 weather stations, whereas 17 January 1908 had a raw average maximum of 38.9C at 221 stations.

It may be argued that the density and range of the 1908 and 2013 weather station networks makes comparison impossible.

If so, this leaves open the question of how 221 stations in 1908 is insufficient but 84 stations in 1911 is sufficient to make a valid daily comparison with 2013 temperatures that are area averaged 5.2C above their raw maximum."

And:

http://joannenova.com.au/2013/03/hottest-summer-record-in-australia-not-even-close-says-uah-satellite-data/

According to the satellite temperature 1998 was much hotter than 2013 in mainland Australia and there has been NO up temperature trend since 1979, when the satellite record began.

AGW is a scam promulated by ideologues, idiots, spivs, conmen and thieves.

Build more dams!

Graham you will need to include a recommend for deletion button on articles if you continue to publish this sort of rubbish by activists with no interest in facts.

Sorry Graham, I missed the point.

After reading yet another pile of tripe in the article from Alan Austin, I'm a wake up to your ploy.

You're giving them rope, aren't you?

By publishing their rants you expose their ratbagery. Continuing to publish them does seem to encourage them to expose even more of their garbled thinking. Letting them hang themselves by their own necktie, so to say.

At a guess I would expect these articles would, if widely read, cost labor another percentage or so support.

What a cunning fellow.

Climate change, ought not dampen Abbott's northern Australia plans, but rather, hasten them.
There are plenty of gorges, which when dammed will hold more water, without adding to the width of the waterway, and or evaporation.
Minor Nathan's gorge, two or three Sydney harbour's worth?
Moreover, sites once considered unsuitable, due to natural ground absorption factors, will find favour, given any water stored in and then slowly released by the landscape, will avoid evaporation, which currently rips out up to 50% of current water flow, PA.
The next boom will be a food boom, and we do need to also secure our own food security.
So, we need to ignore the usual green noise and crack on with northern development/flood mitigation.
There is no doubt that essential sea grass habitat, can only be protected by essential dams/flood mitigation outcomes.
Were turtles and dugongs, domesticated animals, the owners would be fined and or imprisoned of both, for horrendous cruelty, or the slow starvation, green advocates inflict on these species, by simply refusing to act on, or quite deliberately blocking essential flood mitigation projects.
Shame!
These same activists scream the longest and loudest, whenever they see images of native hunter gathers, clubbing a dugong to death; usually in seconds. But seem to be, completely silent on the death of thousands, by the cruellest death of all, extremely slow, weeks or months of starvation.
The sheer hypocrisy and calloused indifference, is nothing short of breathtaking!?
Look, every one dollar spent on mitigation, saves four subsequently spent on recovery!
Whether looked at through the prism of environmental protection or simple economics, the only thing that makes any sense, is quite massive northern development/mitigation!
Rhrosty.

Thanks - very good article indeed.
There is nothing new or unique about Abbott's Northern food bowl option - conservatives wishing to make their mark on Australia without any understanding of the environmental dimensions have been banging on about this for years.
As someone who is actually living in Broome your obviously in a better position to judge climate impacts than any of these predictable skeptics writing above.
Thanks for your fine article and great work!

Indeed the Northern food bowl plan has problems quite apart from climate change. If it was going to happen, I suggest it would have happened by now.. As for the climate change projections noted by the author.. you may or may not believe the temperature projections, but at least they have been kicked around a great deal. However, there is no reason at all to place any faith in the rainfall projections.. Scientists can't point to any track record of any kind for them.. they are just projections done with basically untried theory, which ignore climate cycles..

For two centuries Australia has huddled around the southern coastline pretending to be a European nation. Finally we are admitting that we are an Asian nation, and not before time. This will mean taking another and a better good long look at northern Australia and populating and developing it in a sensible manner. Time and money will be spent, but the inevitable development does not have to inspire such a negative song and dance show.
Tony Abbott spends some time every year working with indigenous Australians in the Cape York area. The idea that he will sign off on a plan to develop any part of our North without taking them with him pays no attention to either the man or his history. As much as it must gall the shushers, he has better creds in this area than most.

I give as much credence to the prognostication of the CSIRO, or BOM or any other Sooth Sayers, as should be awards to the historic ranting are of the famous “oracle of Delphi” in the years about 1400BC.

Thus one may safely conclude that scenarios based on climate forecasts are totally lacking in structural integrity. Much as any structure built of playing cards is demolished by the first puff of wind.

'According to recent CSIRO and BOM estimates, over the next 50 years predicted climate impacts on the Kimberley include: more unpredictable and intense rainfall events; saltwater getting into some freshwater supplies (groundwater and coastal); stronger and more destructive tropical cyclones; an increase in very hot days; more common and severe droughts and floods, and the increased occurrence of wildfires. '

shameless

Just a tip to the author - the title of your articles should not include the words 'climate change' in the headline as this is the key-phrase used by professional climate change shills and sock puppets to get 'alerted' via e-mail as to the existance of a new publication.
As you can see by the inane drivel and flat out lies that are spammed by the usual suspects (or several suspects under different screen-names)they carry out their 'drive-by' postings of the usual thousand-times-falsified denierblog myths of the 'no warming since[insert favourite cherry-picked start date here] variety.
Now that climate change is obvious they have abandoned all attempts at logical discussion and merely endlessly parrot desperate nonsense.

Gravy train rider, or just fellow traveler Leslie Graham?

'Gravy train rider, or just fellow traveler Leslie Graham '

If Abbott has any integrity Hasbeen he will put an end to the gravy train. Thankfully Newman did it in Queensland. I wonder what new gravy train the pseudo scientist will create?

tion Building Schemes.

The Rudd government actually did have an inquiry into the agricultural potential of northern Australia. It found that there was some potential for agricultural development, but nothing like the hype that has been spruiked about it.

http://nalwt.gov.au/files/NLAW.pdf

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-02-08/report-kills-northern-food-bowl-dream/2572856

Problems include poor soils that have not been renewed by glaciation or mountain building, the long dry season with ferocious evaporation rates, and a lack of suitable dam sites.

Future Tense on Radio National went to northern Australia and interviewed a number of agricultural scientists there for their program. All of them said much the same things as the Taskforce report. The question is whether we listen to qualified scientists or to ignorant boosters.

Misconceived agricultural development has done enormous harm to people and to the environment. SBSOne has been running an excellent four part series on the Dust Bowl, America's greatest environmental disaster. In the 1920s, people tried to grow wheat on the Great Plains, in areas that were only suitable for ranching. They were fooled by the lies of the boosters and by a series of unusually wet years. There was then a terrible drought in the 1930s, and the prevailing winds blew away enormous volumes of topsoil. The people lost everything, often including the lives of their children, who died of dust pneumonia. The elderly people who lived through it as children and were interviewed are still scarred by the experience, although the Roosevelt Administration saved people from starving. A similar horror story could be told about what the Soviet Union did to the Aral Sea.

If you want to post about this article reveal if you have grown a single tomatoe in northern Australia. If not, please don't comment.