A friend to the blog has just reminded me of the time that Barnaby Joyce claimed being asked to accept climate science was ‘bullying’ while he was deputy prime minister.

When asked at the national press club in 2021 whether or not he accepted climate science, in a question which included climate science facts, Joyce said:

“I really don’t like when questions are presented like that, because it sounds like you’re at a baptism, on behalf of your child, denouncing Satan and all of his works and deeds, and on and on and on it goes.

…If the question you ask me is I do I believe that humans have an influence on climate, yes I do. (but he would not specify how much of an influence he accepted humans had on the climate)

…And if you then walk into the frame of saying, ‘I’m now going to grab you by the ear and make you comply with everything I say’, I won’t do that because it’s a free nation. I can say and think what I like.

…I’m not going to participate in some sort of kangaroo court of now you will agree to every statement I say because the IPCC said it.

And on his view of whether or not the Nationals (who are still having issues with a 2035 target) should have to accept the science Joyce said in 2021:

“This is why in regards to the previous question [about climate science], why we get so annoyed, because people say you must comply with my assertion, and that therefore justifies everything that I want to do next, because otherwise I just go back to the initial statement and say but didn’t you say this, therefore you must comply with that.

“And that’s bullying.“