The pond takes a short break, but not before a long bout of tedium with 'Walri' Hunt and the climate denialists of the lizard Oz ...

What a shockingly wrong epitaph.

Why, Tony Abbott stood for copper, and he stood for coal, and he stood for knighthoods and dames, and he stood for Victorian values, and he stood for climate denialism and climate change is crap, and he stood a for socialist warmista Pope swanning around the United States talking up a 'won't someone think of the refugees', anti-capitalist agenda ...

Or maybe not, at least not that last one, but truly shit does happen and to celebrate the pond is taking a short break, knowing that the country is now safe in the very best of hands.

To hammer home that point, the pond would like to draw attention, to anyone who missed it, the appearance of the quisling, walri-hunting Greg Hunt on Lateline last night.

It came after a flurry of stories which showed just how deep climate denialism ran in the Abbott government.

Thanks to the ABC doing an FOI, we got the story Environment Minister Greg Hunt 'killed' idea from Tony Abbott's department for BoM review.

Others picked up the story and ran with it, as at Fairfax with Bureau of Meterology defends climate data after revelations Abbott's department considered probe.

And at the Graudian, with Abbott considered investigation into 'exaggerated' Bureau of Meteorology temperature data ...

Well it's an important skill of the quisling to quell the worst excesses of the fearless leader, and then when the wind blows well, to swing around a little bit ... and Hunt was in fine form on Lateline:

TONY JONES: First of all, is it true that Tony Abbott tried to set up a taskforce to investigate whether the Bureau of Meteorology had exaggerated estimates of global warming? 
GREG HUNT: Look, the question was raised with my department by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. I'm honestly not sure of the provenance of that. My answer was very clear: we have perhaps the best or one of the best meteorological organisations in the world. I have full confidence in their data and the idea was killed at that point. 
TONY JONES: Evidently, the idea was inspired by News Limited reports claiming the Bureau of Meteorology was, quote, "Wilfully ignoring evidence which contradicts its own propaganda." Now was there any evidence at all as far as you were concerned that the reports of the Bureau of Meteorology were propaganda? 
GREG HUNT: No. And I've had full confidence in what I think is a world-class organisation which is based on hard science, hard data, literally millions of points of information through our satellite and our local monitoring. And I reaffirmed that and an idea which came to my department from another department was killed off, and frankly, my view was crystal clear. There was no need for such a review because there had already been the periodic normal review which found that their practices were sound, scientific and of the highest calibre. 
TONY JONES: OK. Briefly, one last question on this: are you relieved to be out of a political environment where, let's say, climate change scepticism was rather persistent? 
GREG HUNT: Oh, look, I respectfully don't accept that background. I've been given support by successive leaders. I've been able to work tremendously well with Malcolm Turnbull in the past and only today we met for an extended discussion about the broad direction on the new cities agenda and climate change. He and I share a passion on that. So I've been fortunate to have a series of supportive leaders and now we have somebody who has a deep, strong passion for renewables. We share that passion and I think that that will add additional confidence to the sector. 
TONY JONES: OK. Given what you just said, another consequence of the switch to Malcolm Turnbull is that both the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency have been put under your authority. Are you going to nurture them or kill them off 'cause that was the original plan of the Government? 
GREG HUNT: Well I do want to work constructively with them and my goal and I know that the Prime Minister's goal is to integrate their work so we have the Emissions Reduction Fund working with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Arena, we have the Renewable Energy Target under the Clean Energy Regulator working with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Arena. And I have already spoken with the chairs of each of those two bodies and tomorrow I'm due to meet with the chair and one of the board members early in the morning. So, we're right on to early action. And from here, what is this about? It's about making sure that we get the best possible mix of emissions reduction technologies and renewable technologies and that as a consequence, we're able to do as much as we possibly can as part of the global task of reducing emissions. 
TONY JONES: So can we put it this way: the war on renewables is now over?
GREG HUNT: Well, from my perspective, there never was a war on renewables, but what I would say is that we've got a big challenge to double our renewables in terms of the large scale between now and 2020 and to pretty much double our small-scale solar between now and 2020. But I think there will be additional confidence added confidence about an iron-clad commitment to the renewable energy targets which we now have, which not only is my view, it's not only Malcolm Turnbull's view, it's also the Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg's view which he has expressed this week as well.
TONY JONES: OK. Alright, we've got a bit of ground to go over, so a couple of quick answers on these ones. Is there a possibility you might lift the ban on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation investing in wind technology? 
GREG HUNT: Sure. So our commitment to the Senate, which certainly holds, which I would never break, was to have the Clean Energy Finance Corporation focus on emerging technologies. That was its purpose and its intention. We will still work towards it focusing on emerging technologies and innovative actions. One thing that they have just done is put out a new round for solar financing, which I think is a good sign and perfectly appropriate. 
TONY JONES: OK, but briefly, are you gonna lift the ban on wind technology, investments on wind technology? 
GREG HUNT: I don't want to get ahead of myself here because I am going to meet with the chair and a board member tomorrow morning and then we'll have discussions ... TONY JONES: So you're not philosophically opposed to that possibility? 
GREG HUNT: No, I've never been philosophically opposed to those questions. It's all about the most effective renewables, but remembering this: that the purpose of the finance corporation, indeed, as Tony Wood said in your introduction, was to focus on emerging technologies and certainly I think that's appropriate, fair and reasonable as a - an investment of taxpayers' funds.

And so on and so forth, and there's more in the transcript at the ABC here.

But what set the now departed fruit loop off on his paranoid, conspiracy-theory based, quixotic attempt to tilt at statistical windmills?

Well everyone knows Moorice's sterling work for the lizards of Oz - how long will he remain in his current position? - but credit where credit is due.

The phrase quoted in all the above stories come from Graham "the fog of climate war" Lloyd, scribbling back in August:

Because talking of Orwell and 1984 is eminently scientific and rational, and a logical and coherent way to frame a debate, much as the pond is fond of talking of Goebbels and radio and propaganda when discussing climate science ...

On and on Lloyd went, transcribing the argument, purely in the interests of presenting both sides of the story, and because the Sydney Institute is the real home of climate science:

And what was the end result of all this blather?

Well Tony Abbott decided to organise a witch hunt into BoM because deep in his heart he remained a dedicated climate denialist, and a conspiracy theorist open to the latest conspiracy theories being spruiked by the reptiles,  showing just how effective was the climate denialism routinely featured in the pages of the lizard Oz, thanks in no small part to the diligent and valiant efforts of the likes of Moorice and Graham Lloyd ...

The question now is whether we will begin to see a diminution of the scare mongering and the seizing on minor bits of humbug and the work of denialists, now that there's a PM who accepts the science of climate science, and not the talk of George Orwell, and has taken the keys, not to the Lodge, but to his Point Piper home ...

And a further question is just how much the quisling Hunt can now pretend that he was on board with the climate science all along, and like Speer, did the best he could to stop the worst excesses of his paranoid, conspiracy theorist master ...

Who knows, but now the pond is off for a short break, ready to enjoy the splendid Australian bush. We might also listen to a little alternative music as we drive.

Now the pond realises this is the dangerous first step towards an alarming and irreversible radicalisation, but like moths we're drawn to the flames ...

And so to a few memes ...

And speaking of dangerous radical liars prone to rough gruff criminality, as the pond sometimes does ...