An attack on the United Nations climate body by Tony Abbott's chief business adviser shows the coalition is not serious about climate change, the federal opposition says.
Chair of the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Council, Maurice Newman, accused the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of "dishonesty and deceit" in an opinion piece published in The Australian on Tuesday.
Mr Newman said the IPCC had exploited the masses by promoting the "scientific delusion" of climate change, writing: "If the IPCC were your financial adviser, you would have sacked it long ago."
Labor's acting environment spokesman, Shayne Neumann, seized on the comments, saying they proved that the coalition did not accept the scientific evidence of climate change.
"The prime minister must ask Mr Newman to withdraw his comments which damage Australia's relationships with its trading partners, all of whom accept that climate change is real and are taking steps to reduce carbon pollution," Mr Neumann said in a statement.
"The worst part about Mr Newman's ignorant comments is that he's only voicing what we know Tony Abbott thinks about climate change."
Mr Neumann said Australia was already a "laughing stock" because of the government's push to scrap the carbon tax.
