Is the media misrepresenting the Australian government’s action on climate change? Climate experts say no.

Extract from ABC Media Watch

Broadcast: Mon 30 Sep 2019, 9:15pm

Published: Mon 30 Sep 2019, 9:22pm

Transcript

ROS CHILDS: So what did you make of the Prime Minister’s speech?
AMANDA McKENZIE: The only reaction that I, that came to me was this is colossal bullshit, the claim that Australia’s doing enough on climate change. And I’m sorry to use crude language but I couldn’t think of a fairer term.
- ABC News Channel, 26 September, 2019

Hello, I’m Paul Barry, welcome to Media Watch.
And criticism of our politicians does not get much blunter than that. Or at least not from organisations set up to champion science.
So, what did Scott Morrison say that got the Climate Council’s CEO Amanda McKenzie so riled up?
It was this claim that Australia’s doing a fine job in the fight against global warming, but getting no credit for its work:

SCOTT MORRISON: Australia’s internal though, and global critics on climate change willingly overlook, or perhaps ignore our achievements, as the facts simply don’t fit the narrative they wish to project about our contribution. Australia is responsible for just 1.3 per cent of global emissions. Australia is doing our bit on climate change and we reject any suggestion to the contrary.
- ABC News Channel, 26 September, 2019

Ahead of his speech to the UN — as Greta Thunberg’s rebuke to global leaders hogged the headlines — the PM was telling reporters in New York that he believes media lies may be to blame for his government’s bad rap on global warming:

SCOTT MORRISON: What I’ve found in engaging with neighbours, and even here, is often times the criticisms that have been made about Australia are completely false and they’re completely misleading and people have had a prejudiced view about what Australia is actually doing. You know, they get their information, now where do they get their information from? Who knows. Maybe they read it, maybe they read it, but from what’s come out in the media and other things like this …
REPORTER: Is this fake news?
SCOTT MORRISON: … I’m not saying that. All I’m saying is when I’ve spoken to them they’ve been surprised to learn about the facts about what Australia has been doing.
- Speers, Sky News, 26 September, 2019

Cue for some in the media to fact check the PM’s claims.
And for the Climate Council’s Professor Lesley Hughes to press home her CEO’s attack by going on ABC Radio to give the government’s record another massive fail:

LESLEY HUGHES: We remain probably the highest per capita emitter of any developed countries, even higher than Saudi Arabia. And so that fall in per capita emissions, which has been rather slight, is mainly due not to government action but because we’ve got more people.
So it’s not hard to overachieve on really dismal targets and the fact is that our emissions continue to rise ...
- PM, ABC Radio, 26 September, 2019

Now, some will claim the Climate Council is an activist group — distinguished scientists though they are — who would naturally be critical of government efforts.
So, we decided to contact some leading Australian climate experts for their verdict on the PM’s charge.
Associate Professor Malte Meinshausen is from the Climate and Energy College at the University of Melbourne. Professor Frank Jotzo is director of the Centre for Climate and Energy Policy at the ANU. Bill Hare is a founder and CEO of Climate Analytics in Perth. Professor Steven Sherwood is from the Climate Change Research Centre at the  University of New South Wales. And the ANU’s Associate Professor Nerilie Abram was a lead author on last week’s IPCC report.
A more distinguished panel would be hard to find. And we asked them all: is Australia doing enough to combat global warming, as the PM maintains?
And they answered:

No …
- Email, Malte Meinshausen, Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne, 27 September, 2019

No …
- Email, Frank Jotzo, Centre for Climate and Energy Policy, ANU, 27 September, 2019

No ...
- Email, Bill Hare, Climate Analytics, 27 September, 2019

No …
- Email, Steven Sherwood, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW, 27 September, 2019

No ...
- Email, Nerilie Abram, ANU, 28 September, 2019

We then asked them: is the media’s reporting on global warming and the government’s climate policies false or misleading?
And they answered:

No …
- Email, Malte Meinshausen, Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne, 27 September, 2019

No …
- Email, Frank Jotzo, Centre for Climate and Energy Policy, ANU, 27 September, 2019

No …
- Email, Bill Hare, Climate Analytics, 27 September, 2019

Not systematically.
- Email, Steven Sherwood, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW, 27 September, 2019

I can’t give a simple yes or no.
- Email, Dr Nerilie Abram, ANU, 28 September, 2019

And finally we asked them: is the PM right to blame the media for creating an impression that Australia is not doing enough?
And they told us:

No …
- Email, Malte Meinshausen, Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne, 27 September, 2019

No …
- Email, Frank Jotzo, Centre for Climate and Energy Policy, ANU, 27 September, 2019

No …
- Email, Bill Hare, Climate Analytics, 27 September, 2019

No …
- Email, Steven Sherwood, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW, 27 September, 2019

No ...
- Email, Nerilie Abram, ANU, 28 September, 2019

So, pretty much a unanimous verdict on all three questions.
We also asked those climate experts for comments, which you can read in full on our website.
But on the specific question of media reporting of climate change, Nerilie Abram told us:

Some parts of the media do a very good job of reporting on global warming, others do not.
- Email, Nerilie Abram, ANU, 28 September, 2019

While Bill Hare made that more specific, telling Media Watch:

The reporting in the ABC, Guardian and former Fairfax press is generally accurate and non-ideological.
- Email, Bill Hare, Climate Analytics, 27 September, 2019

And Professor Meinshausen finished it off by observing more pointedly that the:

Murdoch press and some radio stations are often willfully misleading … But not in the direction that Scott Morrison suggested.
- Email, Malte Meinshausen, Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne, 27 September, 2019

And finally, the Science Media Centre — whom we also consulted, and which specialises in proper reporting of science — observed:

… the major issue is with opinion leaders who use the media to undermine the science.
Blaming the media is akin to shooting the messenger.
- Email, Australian Science Media Centre, 27 September, 2019

So, if anyone is being misleading here, it seems to be the Prime Minister.
Who, as Janine Perrett observed on Sky, may have picked up a few tips at the White House from his American counterpart:

JANINE PERRETT: … what I found interesting was the blaming the Australian media. I think he’s had a good week with Donald Trump, blame the media, fake news, there it is.
- Speers, Sky News, 26 September, 2019

And we did ask the Prime Minister’s office to point us to any media stories they considered unfair or misleading, but they did not respond.