Speaker 1: From Schwartz Media. I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven AM.
Speaker 1: In December last year, a group of crossbenchers dialed into
Speaker 1: a secret call with the Abneasy government. It was to
Speaker 1: get a briefing on a government commissioned report on the
Speaker 1: national security risks posed by climate change. The report the
Speaker 1: government has been sitting on since early twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: Described by one Senator as frankly terrifying, the Climate Risk
Speaker 1: Assessment has not been shared with the Greens, the Coalition
Speaker 1: or even the relevant Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence. Now, as
Speaker 1: a federal election looms, crossbenchers warn its recklessly negligent to
Speaker 1: keep the report's findings hidden from Australians. Today Chief political
Speaker 1: correspondent for the Saturday Paper at Karen Bullow on why
Speaker 1: the government is keeping national security threats a secret. It's Wednesday,
Speaker 1: March Team. So, Karen, there's a report that the government
Speaker 1: commissioned a while ago, but since receiving it has been
Speaker 1: keeping secret. And we know it's about the national security
Speaker 1: implications of climate change. What else do we know?
Speaker 2: Well, not a lot, and that's by design. It's a
Speaker 2: secret report by an intelligence agency and it was a
Speaker 2: labor election promise to do it, but it seems there
Speaker 2: was no promise to actually make it public. Climate change
Speaker 2: is a national security issue that is well understood throughout
Speaker 2: the world, but nowhere more so than with our specific neighbors.
Speaker 2: It is known as the Climate Risk Assessment Report, and
Speaker 2: it was done by the Office of National Intelligence with
Speaker 2: significant input by Defense. And it was led by the
Speaker 2: Director General of the Office of National Intelligence, Andrew Sheier.
Speaker 2: And that's important because he's highly respected. He is a
Speaker 2: former national security advisor to former Prime Ministers John Howard
Speaker 2: and Tony Abbott. It is an assessment of the national
Speaker 2: security impact of a woman planet for Australia. It was
Speaker 2: delivered sometime early twenty twenty three, but not released publicly.
Speaker 2: I've been covering the calls, largely from the cross Bench,
Speaker 2: the Greens and climate groups to release the report for
Speaker 2: years now, and that was to inform the public. But
Speaker 2: I was hugely surprised actually to hear that there had
Speaker 2: been a briefing not just recently, but way back on
Speaker 2: December ninth to a group of the Progressive cross Bench.
Speaker 2: It wasn't to everyone, not to the Greens, and certainly
Speaker 2: not to the Coalition. And I understand also the report
Speaker 2: has not been before the powerful and largely bipartisan Joint
Speaker 2: Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security, so they were all
Speaker 2: excluded from this particular briefing.
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, So there are a subtle few people being
Speaker 1: briefed on this report. So tell me more about who
Speaker 1: those independents are and what they're saying about the briefing
Speaker 1: and the report itself.
Speaker 2: What they're saying is almost nothing. Consider this report still secret,
Speaker 2: and it seems that's the way the government wants it.
Speaker 2: December ninth, when this briefing had was a non sitting
Speaker 2: day of Parliament. People I understand dialed in on a
Speaker 2: secure line from all around the country. I was told
Speaker 2: that there were no advisors President. It's described as the
Speaker 2: principles only. But I do know that Helen Haynes, the
Speaker 2: Independent Member for Indi, was on the call, also Andrew Wilkie.
Speaker 2: I spoke to the Member for Ringa, Zalie Stegel. She
Speaker 2: would not even confirm that she was even in the briefing,
Speaker 2: but she does want to say that she still wants
Speaker 2: the report released. The most I heard was from the
Speaker 2: act Senator David Pocock. He said the assessment was quote
Speaker 2: frankly terrifying. But he couldn't say anymore other than to
Speaker 2: say that Australia was woefully underprepared for what's coming.
Speaker 1: Okay, so why the secrecy, Karen, What has the federal
Speaker 1: government said about why the reporters still classified and why
Speaker 1: they're briefing about it was so selective.
Speaker 2: Well, it's a good question about why it's still classified,
Speaker 2: I did ask. I tried first with the Deputy Prime
Speaker 2: Minister Richard Miles. I was told it was he who
Speaker 2: organized the briefing. After pressure from the Cross benches, he declined.
Speaker 2: I tried also with the Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi has
Speaker 2: responsibility for the Office of National Intelligence. I got a
Speaker 2: statement from a spokesperson saying that the Albanzi government is
Speaker 2: committed to action on climate change. We engage constructively with
Speaker 2: the cross bench and that engagement includes regular briefings. Some briefings,
Speaker 2: the statement says, are confidential and we trust that that
Speaker 2: confidentiality respected. So didn't get a lot back while the
Speaker 2: Cross benches are out there saying no, in fact, this
Speaker 2: is they say, recklessly negligent not to have the public
Speaker 2: understand what is needed to take climate change action. But
Speaker 2: look the Government hasn't explained why the Coalition and the
Speaker 2: Greens were not also part of this particular briefing. The
Speaker 2: Greens in particular the Senator David Shubridge, who's the defense
Speaker 2: spokesperson for the Greens. He was front and center with
Speaker 2: the Cross benches calling for this report to be released
Speaker 2: over the past few years. He wasn't included, and he
Speaker 2: describes those on the inside as being effectively gagged. He
Speaker 2: tells me that both Labor and the Coalition are notorious
Speaker 2: for offering confidential briefings to their opponents as a way
Speaker 2: of silencing public criticism. He says that once you're told
Speaker 2: what's in the briefing, you can't talk about it because
Speaker 2: there it's rein It has to be secret.
Speaker 1: After the break What Australia risks by not being transparent.
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Speaker 1: Our work, Karen. The government is trying to keep this
Speaker 1: report on the national security implications of climate change secret.
Speaker 1: Many people are saying that it should be made public,
Speaker 1: that we need to know about the potential threats here.
Speaker 1: So I know that you haven't read the report, but
Speaker 1: you have been looking into the types of threats that
Speaker 1: we're likely to face as a result of climate change.
Speaker 1: What have you found out.
Speaker 2: One of the main arguments from those wanting the report
Speaker 2: public is that there are reports from comparable nations like
Speaker 2: the UK, the US, and most lately Germany, that they
Speaker 2: have similar reports already in the public domain.
Speaker 4: America's type intelligence agencies released a report today highlighting the
Speaker 4: mounting threats that rising temperatures, droughts, and extreme weather poets
Speaker 4: or our national security.
Speaker 2: I did look at the US National Intelligence Committee report.
Speaker 2: It wants of increasing geopolitical tensions over resources and who
Speaker 2: will pay for global decarbonization.
Speaker 4: The Pentagons analysis says quote, in worst case scenarios, climate
Speaker 4: change related impacts could stress economic and social conditions that
Speaker 4: contribute to mass migration events or political crises, civil unrust, shifts,
Speaker 4: in the regional balance of power or even state failure.
Speaker 2: So there are reports or already out there. Australia stands
Speaker 2: out for keeping its own climate risk assessment classified. I
Speaker 2: spoke with Admiral Chris Barry. He's a former Chief of
Speaker 2: the Defense Force. He's also on the executive of the
Speaker 2: Australian Security Leaders Climate Group, and he's been calling for
Speaker 2: this to be public for a long time. He actually
Speaker 2: strongly encouraged Labor to put this on its agenda before
Speaker 2: the last election. And he says that the most terrifying
Speaker 2: aspect of the report would be the potential for huge
Speaker 2: numbers of displaced people from other countries such as Bangladesh.
Speaker 2: He says there's likely to be millions of Bangladeshi seeking
Speaker 2: refuge in Australia. Bangladesh is losing a large part of
Speaker 2: its territory to rising sea levels, and he says that's
Speaker 2: a scenario the government must prepare for.
Speaker 1: And this level of secrecy, how unusual is it.
Speaker 2: So Chris Barry says there's a pattern here. It's not
Speaker 2: just the National Security Assessment that is secret. There's also
Speaker 2: the update to the domestic National Climate Risk Assessment, and
Speaker 2: that is a more domestic focused one about the risks.
Speaker 2: So I have been told by Chris Berry that he
Speaker 2: believes that it's been buried. I did ask about this,
Speaker 2: and the official word is that the work on this
Speaker 2: assessment has been more complex than expected and it's nearing finalization.
Speaker 2: It's understood that the election, of course pairing down on
Speaker 2: us right now is disrupting its delivery, and so we're
Speaker 2: still waiting to see when it will turn up. But
Speaker 2: I guess what we're seeing here is that there is
Speaker 2: this wrap up of climate change. We're getting the major
Speaker 2: parties framing it as something of an economic issue, a
Speaker 2: cost of living issue. We're talking about bills all the time,
Speaker 2: and again, while that is not to be put aside,
Speaker 2: we're not talking about the bigger sort of existential risk
Speaker 2: of climate change.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there is this, and I suppose around who the
Speaker 1: secrecy is serving. But then the bigger issue, as you say,
Speaker 1: is what does it actually mean that we're living in
Speaker 1: an increasingly unstable world that is on the cusp of
Speaker 1: dramatic shifts because of climate change? So what sense you
Speaker 1: get about whether or not the federal government is prepared
Speaker 1: enough for that reality?
Speaker 2: This is something that we're not talking about I spoke
Speaker 2: to the former US Special Envoy on climate Jonathan Pershing,
Speaker 2: he was just recently in Australia. He pointed out that
Speaker 2: one of the reasons why the United States likes to
Speaker 2: make these sort of assessments public and put out there,
Speaker 2: there's a sheer cost involved in these challenges and it
Speaker 2: has to go before Congress, and Congress needs to get
Speaker 2: that feedback from the public before it can make these
Speaker 2: changes and commit the money. So it's not something that
Speaker 2: Australia is doing right here.
Speaker 1: Karen, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Also in the news today, the Israeli military says it
Speaker 1: has hit targets in Gaza with air strikes, with the
Speaker 1: Palestinian Health Ministry officials reporting at least two hundred dead,
Speaker 1: including several children. The strikes, which were reported in multiple locations,
Speaker 1: and a week song standoff over extending the cease fire
Speaker 1: which came into effect in January, the first phase of
Speaker 1: which expired on March first, and Treasurer Jim Chalmers has
Speaker 1: raised concerns about the broader hit to the global economy
Speaker 1: as a result of US tariffs. Speaking one week ahead
Speaker 1: of the federal budget, the Treasurer said Australia needs to
Speaker 1: focus on resilience rather than retaliation in response to tariffs
Speaker 1: of twenty five percent on steer and aluminum exports, which
Speaker 1: took effect last week. Global growth over the next three
Speaker 1: years is expected to be its weakest since the nineteen nineties.
Speaker 1: I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven am. See you tomorrow.