The head of the Abbott government's Business Advisory Council claims climate science is a new world order conspiracy involving the United Nations, democracy-hating environmentalists and Chinese communists.

The scientific consensus on climate change is the product of a global conspiracy to stamp out democracy and impose a totalitarian new world order, according to dubious claims made Friday by a senior Australian government adviser.

The scientific consensus on climate change is “not about facts or logic,” according to Maurice Newman, the chairperson of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's Business Advisory Council.

“It’s about a new world order under the control of the U.N.,” he argued.

Newman's council is Abbott's top advisory group for business affairs, and has played a key role in formulating government policy since 2013.

The senior government adviser claimed Australia should “resist” international calls for action on climate change, accusing the United Nations of secretly steering a global agenda aimed at “concentrating political authority.”

“Global warming is the hook,” Newman argued.

The comments were made in an op-ed printed by The Australian. The newspaper is the flagship publication of Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd empire in Australia. It's also Australia's largest national newspaper.

In the op-ed, Newman also lashed out at Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UN’s Framework on Climate Change. He claimed Figueres idolizes “Communist China,” and cited this as evidence of the global conspiracy against democracy.

“In her (Figueres') authoritarian world there will be no room for debate or disagreement,” Newman claimed.

The chief executive of the independent Climate Council, Amanda McKenzie, responded to Newman's article by calling for his resignation.

“He is either intentionally misleading the public or he is incapable of understanding scientific consensus, in which case he has no business advising the government,” she said, according to AFP.

Climate scientists overwhelmingly say climate change is real, and being exacerbated by human activity. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says global temperatures could increase by 4.8 degrees Celcius by the end of the century, which would spell disaster for much of the world's population.

The Climate Council is largely comprised of former members of the government-funded Climate Commission, which was abolished by Abbott's government.

Prior to coming to power in 2013, Abbott once described climate change as “absolute crap.” Since coming to power, Abbott has been accused by critics of not taking climate change seriously. Along with appointing Newman as a top adviser, Abbott has also tapped former oil company chairperson Dick Warburton to lead a review of Australia's renewable energy target.

Warburton is a self declared climate skeptic, and his review called for the government to slash renewable energy subsidies, and adopt policies that would increase the value of coal-fired power plants. Warburton claimed neither his history in the fossil fuel industry or his rejection of climate science influenced the outcome of the review.

Newman's article was published just hours before a long awaited government meeting on the renewable energy target. According to reports in the Australian media, the Abbott government is expected to reach a compromise deal between the hardline demands for heavy cuts to the renewables target suggested by Warburton, and calls from the opposition Labor party for shallower cuts.

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