How refreshing for someone with Mr. Murray’s standing to question the AGW scam.
Interviewer: Colleen Ryan, The Australian Financial Review.
MURRAY: "[Carbon dioxide] has got nothing to do with pollution."
RYAN: “What do of you mean?”
MURRAY: "Well carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, it is colourless and odourless. It is not a pollutant."
RYAN: “Yes, but it is still bad for greenhouse gases?”
MURRAY: "No it isn't. It is a tiny proportion of greenhouse gases."
RYAN: “So, if you believe in the warming of the planet, it is a tiny proportion of that?”
MURRAY: "There is no correlation between warming and carbon dioxide."
RYAN: “So if you accept the warming of the planet what should you do?”
MURRAY: "Take measures to stop the effects of it", he declares."
RYAN: “What about the melting of the glaciers?”
MURRAY: "They're not. The amount of ice in the world is slightly increasing. It is not decreasing. It is just staggering, staggering."
"So you call something a pollutant - which it is not, it is actually necessary for life. And then the people who don't agree with you, you call sceptics or scumbags or doubters or something."
And he is a strident defender of states’ rights and a believer in small government.
MURRAY: “Under our system, the states do most things that cost money yet, since the Second World War, the Commonwealth collects most taxes including income tax...I would far prefer to allow the states to tax whatever they like and cause them to compete with one another to see who wants to live there and who prospers and who doesn’t. Just about everything the Commonwealth touches they waste money.”
Mr. David Murray is the chairman of the $71 billion Future Fund and the former CEO of the Commonwealth Bank.
Kudos to him for calling the Anthropogenic Global Warming the scam that it really is.
He is also spot on about how just about everything the Commonwealth touches they screw up.
Isn’t refreshing to read about someone speaking without fear for a change?
Pity he has ruled out a political career. Common sense loaded with excellent business acumen – we could surely use it.
Andy Semple
What a delightful surprise. I had him pegged as a big-government apologist.
I might sell my Telstra shares now. The Future Fund sold theirs, perhaps reflecting his skepticism about the NBN and its impact on the company.
Posted by: DavidLeyonhjelm | June 16, 2011 at 10:56 PM
This guy is my new hero. I wonder if they'll try to revoke his Order of Australia for taking such a heretical stance.
Posted by: Marksouth | June 16, 2011 at 11:09 PM
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott joined 260 CEOs at Sydney's Luna Park overnight and said the experience helped them better understand the plight of people who did this everyday.
So where's Julia Gillard??? Too Cold??? Yeah, she is too cold.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/business-leaders-swapped-the-comforts-of-home-for-a-sheet-of-cardboard-and-a-cup-of-soup-to-raise-funds-for-charity/story-e6frg6nf-1226076845026
Posted by: Account Deleted | June 17, 2011 at 10:09 AM
Thank goodness the chairman of the $71 billion Future Fund is a man of such eminent commonsense and honesty.
Many, many plaudits to Mr. David Murray for speaking out so fearlessly about the shameful scam being perpetrated on Australia and Australians.
I agree with Andy above. Where was Julia Gillard with her Labor compassion last night? At home with her hot water system which reputely cost $150,000 to repair and, one supposes, snuggled up toasty and warm in centrally heated luxury in all probability.
Posted by: Elizabeth | June 17, 2011 at 10:45 AM
Elizabeth,
Other than Tony Abbott, did any other politician join the CEO sleep out?
Posted by: Account Deleted | June 17, 2011 at 10:52 AM
The Grandstander himself, KRUDD was also there. Probably the reason why Gillard did not want to attend
Posted by: Richo | June 17, 2011 at 11:14 AM
Kudos to Rudd too for doing it.
Missed opportunity for Gillard.
Posted by: Account Deleted | June 17, 2011 at 11:33 AM
Andy,
I don't know, haven't seen a list of all those who did sleep out.
It is to be hoped some did, but maybe that is a doubtful hope, for if there is one thing we know about too many modern politicians, it is their love of self-promotion.
Wouldn't miss such an opportunity, would they?
Anyway, it is to be hoped something positive comes of those who did sleep out and their freezing night - like pressure on governments for adequate housing stock, for centres enough to cater for those who have no home at any time etc.
If we are to have a carbon tax forced on us as seems inevitable, it is to be hoped Gillard will take Labor's much vaunted, but miserably hidden compassion and use some of the money to benefit those who are the forgotten people of Australia, be they victims of lost jobs and homes, or a myriad of other problems most of us are lucky never to experience.
Posted by: Elizabeth | June 17, 2011 at 11:50 AM
No doubt. No a great look, particularly when you are the leader of a party who claims to have the poor's interest at heart. Same goes for the Greens. Did any of them participate?
Posted by: Richo | June 17, 2011 at 11:51 AM
Exactly, Richo. Where was Bob Brown and Christine Milne? No Gillard either.
If the price of power continues to sky rocket we'll all be sleeping outside in the cold.
Posted by: Account Deleted | June 17, 2011 at 12:10 PM
Wonderful breath of clear air and thinking from David Murray. Oh, that we had astuteness of that calibre in government!
Posted by: Phil S | June 17, 2011 at 12:18 PM
This quote from Martin Fell in the Fairfax Press is not rock solid like David Murray but it is not bad for the Fairfax Press. Perhaps Martin Fell made it slightly ambiguous to get published?
So, its a little bit a pinch and punch.
>>>
CLIMATE reduction policies and procedures should not create consumer risks, costs or complexities that open the door for speculation by financial sector smarties or that require complex accounting. Such issues have nothing to do with the fundamental objective of reducing global carbon emissions.
That position is a repudiation of the policies pursued in Australia - policies that will inevitably use taxpayer money to enrich a range of beneficiaries who will provide climate change-related goods and services to the rest of us. The government will mandate that we buy those goods and services.
Why are we moving into an environment where the carriage of the climate change debate is being sponsored by those who will benefit from a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme, or those who want to pay only part of what they should pay?
I know that privatising government functions is a shibboleth for many of our intellectual economic glitterati but sometimes, dare I say, it is not a good idea. There is no doubt that some people will gain an enormous amount of business and money from a carbon tax.
The same people - plus a considerable number of speculators and derivatives traders - will gain even more from an emissions trading system.
continuing....
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/tax-carbon-with-no-exemptions-20110616-1g5yn.html
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/tax-carbon-with-no-exemptions-20110616-1g5yn.html#ixzz1OqIY85Sj
Posted by: pip | June 17, 2011 at 01:05 PM
Always good to hear a banker, on science, lol.
Posted by: Pia Robinson | June 17, 2011 at 01:19 PM
That's why the MP for Goldman Sachs wants an ETS.
Follow the money.
tks Pip for the comment.
Posted by: Account Deleted | June 17, 2011 at 02:04 PM
when all else fails go for the personal attack
Posted by: Dougmiller Au | June 17, 2011 at 02:25 PM
"Many, many plaudits to Mr David Murray for speaking out fearlessly about the shameful scam being perpetrated on Australia and Australians". Totally agree with you Elizabeth and it is great to have such a man with commonsense and honesty as chairman of the Future Fund. He will make sure that this Fund is not raided to help Labor with its promise of a surplus in 2012/13.
Posted by: Georgina | June 17, 2011 at 07:49 PM
Like you can talk.
look in the mirror, Pal
Posted by: Account Deleted | June 17, 2011 at 08:18 PM
Where were you last night? Too cold?
Posted by: SignedIn | June 17, 2011 at 10:51 PM
I AGREE THAT TURNBULL IS THE MP FOR GOLDMAN SACHS.
I ALSO WONDER WHY QUIGLEY IS GETING THE KID GLOVE TREATMENT I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT THE BUCK STOPS AT THE TOP OF A COMPANY SILLY ME.
Posted by: VERONICA NICHOLLS | June 18, 2011 at 03:55 PM
IN MY LAST POST I FORGOT TO CONGRATULATE MR MURRAY FOR HAVING THE GUTS TO SPEAK OUT ABOUT THE CARBON TAX SCAM
ESPECIALLY AS OUR COUNTRY IS BECOMING LESS DEMOCRATIC BY THE DAY. THE CARBON TAX AND THE NBN WILL COST TAX PAYERS LONG AFTER GILLARD AND HER BOY FRIEND HAVE BEEN BOOTED OUT OF THEIR DE LUXE LODGINGS. THERE WILL BE NO MORE TV SHOWS SHOWING US THEIR WONDERFUL LIFESTYLE, STILL, A GUESS THE HUGE PENSION AND MASSIVE PERKS WILL HELP EASE THE PAIN.
Posted by: VERONICA NICHOLLS | June 18, 2011 at 04:09 PM