Thursday, May 24, 2007

Intelligence agency refuses to release climate change studies


The Office of National Assessments (ONA) says it has done several studies on climate change but to release them to the public would result in "dumbing" them down.
The ONA is an intelligence agency which reports directly to the Prime Minister and advises on international political, strategic and economic issues.
ONA director-general Peter Varghese has told a Senate hearing that in the past six months, five reports have been written on climate change - including one over-arching national assessment.
Mr Varghese says the reports focus on the international politics of climate change, but they cannot be released to the public.
"My very strong view is that for an organisation like ONA, to produce public versions of their assessments is the surest way of dumbing down our work," he said.
But the Greens have slammed the government agency for not publicly releasing its research.
Greens leader Bob Brown is appalled by Mr Varghese's comments.
"It is a very arrogant view and it's obviously coming from the Government," he said.
Senator Brown says all five reports should be made public immediately.
Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says it would not be appropriate to make the reports public.
"Their reports, like reports of any intelligence agency, are provided on a highly confidential basis to the Government," he said.
"So that would be the reason I would imagine why they're not being published."
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