Coordinated disinformation campaigns are actively trying to deceive Australians, according to a parliamentary investigation supported by Labor, the Liberals, the Greens, and Independent senator David Pocock. The goals of the disinformation campaigns are to worsen community tensions, undermine trust, and postpone efforts to reduce climate pollution.
One of the authors of Doctors for the Environment Australia's submission to the inquiry, Dr Cara Platts said climate misinformation was an “urgent threat to public health because false information about climate change delays action”.
Platts told the Eastern Melburnian: “We've had the 11 hottest years on record in the previous 11 years – those numbers have real world impacts: increased heat days, increased mortality and higher burdens on our hospital systems”.