The justification for the Government’s proposed carbon tax and the recently reported expenditure of $5.5 billion on combating man-made global warming (AGW) is based on the official temperature record.
The official temperature record is produced by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). The BoM produces the temperature record by adjusting the raw temperature data so that temperature trends can be seen. The BoM temperature record shows an increasing temperature trend over the 20th century.
The method of adjusting the raw data by BoM is similar to the method used in New Zealand. In New Zealand the temperature record is produced by the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). Recently a group of scientists has taken legal action against NIWA for improper manipulation of the temperature record. The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition found that NIWA had adjusted raw data which showed only a slight increase of 0.006 degrees Centigrade to an increase of 0.9 degrees. In effect no increase at all had been manipulated to show an increase consistent with AGW.