This morning, Peter Ridd’s legal team will be asking the High Court to hear his appeal against his sacking by James Cook University.
The High Court does not agree to hear most cases. They consider cases that have a wider legal implication. His legal team continue to focus on the academic/intellectual freedom clauses in most university enterprise agreements and on this basis, they are hopefully the High Court will see the case as important. I continue to wish there was more interest in the actual science.
Peter Ridd was a professor at James Cook University for more than two decades. He was fired in 2017 for saying that because of systemic problems with quality assurance, work from the university’s Coral Reef Studies centre, at the time headed by Terry Hughes, was untrustworthy. Peter’s issues were many and varied.
My issues relate specifically to the aerial surveys of coral bleaching by Terry Hughes from which it has been concluded that the Great Barrier Reef is half dead.
There has been very little scrutiny of the methodology underpinning these aerial surveys. It is actually impossible to make any meaningful assessment of coral reef health from more than 120 metres above a coral reef – which is the altitude from which Professor Hughes has been conducting his flyovers. It is easy enough to demonstrate this by putting a drone up over different habitat at the same, and different, coral reefs. I’ve also been getting in and under the water to assess the corals close-up.
This is all explained in a new ‘coral reef’ page at my website, from which you can click-on and see some of the transects we ran at the reefs we visited. It is still in a work in progress: https://jennifermarohasy.com/coralreefs/ .
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The feature image is my buddy swimming over a garden of massive Porites, Myrmidon Reef, December 1, 2020.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Extraordinary. I don’t know any coral reef that gives up its beauty and diversity from 120 metres above sea surface. Upon this basis alone Peter Ridd’s appeal should come home with a full sail.
If this is the future method for scientific observation, then God help us!
And, in breaking news, Peter Ridd has won through to get a hearing from the High Court, explained by Gideon Rozner here: https://ipa.org.au/publications-ipa/media-releases/high-court-to-decide-on-peter-ridd-free-speech-case
Great news, Jen.
All we need now is some rationality from the court and people just might start waking up.
As opposed to woking up.
More from Gideon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6IOgR15-m8&feature=youtu.be
A discussion about the importance of academics being able to debate issues, rather than debate being shut down through a sacking.
Yes, it’s a big step forward for Peter Ridd and we hope his case receives an honest, open and transparent hearing.
Both JCU and the green opposition are still insisting that this is all about industrial contracts, not the probity of any scientific evidence or procedures.
Still refusing to debate in public.
So what you are saying is that Hughes has a 2D version of the world, but the world is 3D, and in the case of corals, most of what there is is below the surface where it can’t be observed. Seems too obvious for even a professor to miss, and a point so obvious no one could argue against either you or Peter.
Hey Graham,
It’s a bit like temperature homogenisation, they refuse to engage. And they are misleading the public big time.
In the case of Terry Hughes’ aerial surveys, he is technically correct in that his published papers clearly state that he flies at 150 metres and surveys the reef crest.
What everyone seems to miss (including Peter) is that he is looking from a great distance, and down on only one particular habitat type which tends to have the most nobly, and sparse coral and most bleached corals anyway.
But that he can call these corals bleached, even at the crest, which is all that is visible from 150 metres … well I dispute that.
He can’t see an individual coral colony from that altitude. He can’t know if the corallite is intact, nor can he can’t give it a colour ranking as perhttps://coralwatch.org/ .
Reef crests that look bleached from 120 metres can be so diverse and colourful close-up.
But the best corals are invisible from the air, usually in the back lagoons and down the walls.
These tax payer funded fly-pasts needed to be called out for what they are: nonsense.
PS It seems to be the case that everywhere I look in detail it is the government-funded professors creating the most havoc and doing the most harm to science that are getting the most funding. Meanwhile the good guys, like Peter, are sacked or forced out. We truly are a civilisation in decline.
All.. May I suggest everyone who is following this saga, buy the book “Reef Heresy?”?
There’s the detail of what has been going on with the reef, but even more important is the support it will give Peter financially. A book can also be loaned out to help educate..
I just received my copy, I will make time to read it soon.
My few words for the day
Jennifer,
Thank you for giving specific examples of just how pathetic the consensus hype on coral actually is.
How appalling and shameless!
No wonder the consensus hides: the promotion of climate fear is a very lucrative enterprise.