PETER Ridd was a professor at James Cook University who dared to question claims that the Great Barrier Reef is facing imminent catastrophe from climate change – eventually being sacked for not backing down.
With your support he has insisted:
1. That the university undertake some quality assurance of its research, and
2. Refused to be censored, for continuing to speak out.
The case has dragged on with a three-day hearing in the Federal Court in Brisbane just last month. When the hearing wrapped up the presiding Judge Salvadore Vasta said he hoped to have a judgement before Easter.
We were expecting some notice before this judgement was read in court. There was no notice, it happened this morning – and Peter Ridd has won on all counts!
The Court ordered that:
1. The 17 findings made by the University, the two speech directions, the five confidentiality directions, the no satire direction, the censure and the final censure given by the University and the termination of employment of Professor Ridd by the University were all unlawful.
2. The issue of the making of declarations and penalty are adjourned to a date to be fixed.
It is very significant that he has won on the issue of academic freedom: that he did have a right to ignore the university administrators and continuing to speak out about the lack of quality assurance and also against the disciplinary process he was being unfairly subjected to.
This is important news!
The university may have already spent over $1 million in legal fees attempting to silence Peter.
They have assumed that sooner or later he would run out of money … and courage. But not Peter, with his legal team and your support he has kept going.
I have known several good professors lose their will to fight once they are isolated, and risk bankruptcy.
Taking this fight to the Federal Court would not have been possible were it not for Peter Ridd deciding to take a stand in defense of the truth, to not back down regardless of the consequences.
Cheryl Ridd has been a rock, in support of Peter and the ugliness that goes with such court cases, including the unfair and untrue affaidavids.
John Roskam from the IPA found Peter the very best legal counsel in Stuart Wood QC.
We then went into fundraising mode – twice. The first time to fight the censure, and the second time for Peter to get his job back.
Bloggers Anthony Watts, Joanne Nova, and also Benny Peiser were terrific. Together we raised $260,000 from 2,405 people.
Today’s judgement is only that Peter Ridd was wrongly sacked from his position as professor at the university. He has not yet got his job back. There has been no ruling yet on remedies and restitutions. Further, the university may yet appeal.
Thank you for your support – so far.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Fabulous news!
A great win for freedom. Congratulations Peter. Thank you Jennifer.
Such great news! Despite the Land and Environment court in NSW going haywire with the recent judgement in stopping a coal mine with one reason being that it would cause climate change https://reneweconomy.com.au/nsw-coal-mine-ruled-out-due-to-climate-change-in-landmark-court-decision-86781/, in this case it is great to see justice for Peter despite the huge cost imposed on him personally. We hope to see James Cook have to pay large punitive damages and actually spend money on doing some proper science.
So good! Thanks for all your support and updates Jen.
A win at last for common sense. How can you sack someone who has a scientific opinion and wanted to debate the issues but loh and behold the elites don’t want to have any discussion or allow freedom of speech and good on Peter for standing up for the truth.
We need more like him. Most of the faculty in NA are snowflakes now. The exception being Jordan Peterson at the University of Toronto.
They’ll appeal – as long and hard as they can….unfortunately.
This is one good event in the fight against climate alarmism, worldwide.
There is no actual proof that manmade CO2 is killing coral reefs or causing global warming or cooling or worse weather or causing sea level to rise.
Climate change is normal, natural, necessary, and unstoppable and not controllable by anything anyone now knows.
Lights up my day. Thanks for your sense of propriety, courage and resolve.
This is just so good – lets see how much attention this gets with the MSM.
We are in pre-election mode so I hope this doesn’t get muffled.
Onyer Peter.
Excellent news. Look forward to seeing it featured on the Project tonight lol.
Fantastic News 🙂
Yes, a shining beacon in a stormy sea. Cheers to all involved, you are the Salt of the Earth…… Brett Keane, NZ
Wonderful news, Jen and Peter.
Let’s hope this is the start of JCU reality time and they seriously make amends.
Wonderful news. Congratulations to Peter and all those who provided support.
That is the best news I have seen in a long time.
I hope that this verdict has important long term consequences for freedom of speech in this country, especially at universities. The University of UWA should take note, especially given their refusal to let Bjorn Lomberg speak. Or Gert Wilders. Well done Jennifer.
HOORAY!!!!! Waiting with baited breath for the next instalment. Chatting to a traveller about the many rorted reef $millions, she told me she had just watched a documentary showing researchers with test tubes breeding coral spawn to replant the dying reef. Wonder if they still claimed its 95% dead? Really I can’t stomach mainstream news & documentaries any more with all the fake claims to science. One man against this gargantuan propaganda machine won. FABULOUS!!!!
This is a fantastic result. It was fairly obvious from the proceedings and comments in the Court by those representing the University and Peter Ridd from their differing perspectives. From the outset, it was evident that Peter had been absolutely honest in his dealings with everyone including the university.
On the other hand, the university found itself standing by a team for which science was only a catch all claim for the purpose of keeping research money flowing in. All the nonsense about climate change affecting a reef, the components of which extend from the Equator to well below the tropics on each side of the earth, is so obviously un real. The publishing of many papers using false photographs to show devastation which did not exist, the silly complaints about bleaching in an environment which has lasted for thousands of years under a very wide range of climatic conditions was a constituted a litany of lies.
Terry Hughes and the University have received their cum uppance!!.
Terrific news, will enjoy glass of red & celebrate. Why are there so many idiots running universities ?? Hope Israel Falau gets a win too. Regards Michael Tarbuck
Well done Peter. A blow made for good science.
Congratulations- the best news for freedom and the right to challenge the ever increasing danger of group think and pseudo- idealism!!
Thank you for standing firm, Peter Ridd.
This is a very significant victory
Congratulations Dr Peter Ridd.
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-16/jcu-scientist-peter-ridd-sacking-unlawful-federal-court-judgment/11021554?pfmredir=sm
Jennifer, thank you for introducing Peter Ridd to so many of us. His case was compelling for anyone who really cares about science, freedom and civil society.
Peter Ridd is clearly a man of integrity and dedicated to truth. Those are the foundation of science. Not successful grant proposals and consensus.
That he has won against what is arguably the opposite of integrity and character is potentially important to us all. But that Peter Ridd can celebrate justice today is something I hope he and his family can savor today.
Congratulations, Peter Ridd. You deserved it and you earned it.
Well done Peter. If they appeal, and you need more money for legal fees, let us know. We will help.
Congratulations Peter Ridd – justice for an honest man! It’s a shame that the late Professor Bob Carter is not here to see this decision. Oh how I would love to hear the comments from John Cook.
Peter Ridd deserves a trophy for this common sense win, to put in his “pool room”!
Great news! Congrats to Peter on the successful outcome and thanks, Jennifer, for keeping us updated. It’s a wake up call for universities to get back to their core purpose of free enquiry, not subjugate their research and scientific staff to the politically correct “consensus science” which is so prevalent today. Thank you, Peter and Jennifer, for standing against the subversion of science in our bureaucracies!
I hope the Law School at JCU reviews the decision and understands the stupidity of the administration’s behaviour. JCU should be severely embarrassed at this very public decision on their competence
A great victory, congratulations!
But the deck remains stacked against academic freedom. Universities using “enterprise agreements” to muzzle robust academic debate should be out of the question. Using wads of public money to persecute a staff member for what at worst amounts to a bit of disparagement of colleagues’ work should also be out of the question.
Where is the federal government on this? Why have they not insisted long ago that universities are places for openly investigating, questioning and debating in order to improve knowledge? JCU’s attitude seems to be that all staff must be constantly parroting received wisdom, in unison, in order to cadge grants. No wonder we spend so much on university research to learn so little.
On this now tediously long experiment in authoritarian government, the governing classes have become, well, ungovernable.
Thanks to the rule of law, this has been reduced a little.
Congratulations on the effort.
Fantastic news (I only hope that any reprisal appeals don’t cause this to drag on forever).
I also wonder how those clowns “the Queensland government” are going to be able to carry on justifying their ludicrous actions.
This is excellent news and I’m delighted for Peter, his family and you Jennifer. Many thanks to all for your extreme bravery in this battle for freedom.
Hunter’s comments upthread are totally apposite and should the cowards of UWA go to appeal then we’ll be here to support you as before. Thanks again from the UK.
A further thought:
This attempt to re-impose Lysenkoism has been turned back.
That is great news. Really happy for Peter and his family, and grateful to him and his team for the fight.
Jennifer, thank you, thank you, thank you! Let’s hope this is the first of many legal victories over institutions/agencies that attempt to enforce “groupthink” about any scientific issue–but especially AGW.
Is there a way for those of us who wish to contribute to continue this fight if necessary?
Made my day!
We can only hope that other scientists will now feel free to tell the truth about climate alarmists. The real consensus has been muzzled for decades, this has resulted in loss of advancement in the search for the answers on what drives our climate. Attempts to quash results of studies that don’t fit the narrative and stories of bullying and ostracizing of anyone who dares question the agw agenda, are reminiscent of some dark times in history. That Peter felt the need to be openly critical of the science is quite telling in how bad things have become. Let’s hope the truth wins out.
I hardly ever make it over here, I barely have time to keep up with WUWT. Heck, I don’t have time for that either.
However, congratulations are in order on the immense amount of time you’ve spent helping Dr. Ridd and rocking the boat. I’m sure it all feels worthwhile today.
I read JCU’s self-serving press release https://www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2019/april/response-to-federal-circuit-court-judgement where they try to make Dr. Ridd sound like a fool. I did meet you once, back at the Las Vegas ICCC. You didn’t sound like the sort of person who suffers fools gladly. Or, more simply: You didn’t sound like the sort of person who suffers fools. Or the JCU administration.
Once again, congratulations, and very sincere thanks.
Congratulations – great news. Let’s hope the appeals process is completed quickly.
A bit of good news this.
tides turning, swamp is being drained, sharpen the guillotines
I see some commentators have being trying to construe the Judgment as a dry procedural one limited to a clause in Professor Ridd’s EA. This for example:
“Steady on, people. This was not a judgment of Academic Freedom or Free Speech. It was a judgment on Peter Ridd’s lawful right to Academic Freedom, written into an employee’s agreement.
Consider, IF the agreement had said there was no Academic Freedom, then Peter Ridd would have lost, because he broke the agreement.
All the Judgment said is that he did not break an agreement.
The downside is that it is not impossible that Universities in general will fix this “loophole” and remove Academic Freedom from employment agreements.”
This is an interesting take on the Ridd Judgment. It is totally misleading. No other executive contract I am aware of has such a liberty/freedom/indulgence, call it what you will as intellectual freedom. It is not just a clause in an employment contract, it is the essence of being employed as an academic, particularly a scientific academic. The Judge states this plainly at clause 6 onwards. He also states that an EA at JCU must have such a clause in it because universities are places where intellectual freedom not only exists but defines them.
This case has set a precedent for all future disputes between academics and repressive University employers. IN that respect even if the EA does not have a specific reference to intellectual freedom such a clause could be implied into it on the basis of this case.
‘Those matters are significant, in my view, because there was an opportunity for the applicant to avoid the very prejudice that he now says he is subjected by reason of the University’s conduct. He was given the opportunity, in a reasonable way in my view, to have the relevant matters adjudicated upon and, in the meantime, the status quo preserved.’
https://www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2019/april/response-to-federal-circuit-court-judgement
Maybe now the university will more fully understand what the status is of their employees and act accordingly.
To support a comment made above: there will likely be future legal expenses – will a third money raising campaign be started?
My Hero !!
Thank you for being and staying strong !
Namaste
George B.
Canberra ACT
@Don B
> ” – will a third money raising campaign be started?”
Yes.
Will it be successful, yea even unto the High Court ?
Yes.
Unhappily, Peter Ridd has commented on his GoFundMe page that the current VC of JCU couldn’t care less. She has almost unlimited funding, will suffer no pecuniary loss herself and will most likely be onto greener pastures before this is resolved, claiming a victory for uni admin on her CV.
I recommend one reads his comment: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/04/17/hubris-on-steroids-jcu-uni-digging-in-on-peter-ridd-decision/
A landmark case. I am overjoyed. “Justice reigns though the heavens fall”… for the tricksters!
Well done to all who stepped up to defend the truth and to those who were willing and able to help fund the legal costs.
Such fantastic news! Thank you for your courage a determination Dr. Peter Ridd and family. Dr. Bob Carter is applauding. RIP
Well at least us so-called knuckle dragging deniers have been given a sliver of hope by this court decision and the tenacity of Peter, Jennifer, IPA and the donors to his fighting fund. Let’s hope , although I am not that optimistic, that the long march of Marxist/Leftism through at least JCU has been stifled a little
The implications of the attack on free speech and discussion throughout the West is starting to get done interesting attention:
https://youtu.be/_-yiYd7380I
Scientists should be able to insist that proper scientific protocols are followed when research is done and the results are published.
Science is about truth and findings should be queried and tested: thesis, antithesis, synthesis, more evidence, new, revised thesis, etc.
By when does JCU need to lodge an appeal if that is what it decides ?