In this interview, Dr Peter Ridd appeared on The Bolt Report – Sky News Australia to discuss the IPA’s research on the Great Barrier Reef.
All media appearances posted onto the IPA website are directly related to the promotion and dissemination of IPA research.
Below is a transcript of the interview.
Andrew Bolt:
Joining me is a scientist who, alas, did not get an award today. In fact, he lost his job as head of Physics at James Cook University because he kept warning, correctly, that his colleagues’ predictions of the death of the Great Barrier Reef were grossly exaggerated. I’m talking, of course, of marine physicist, Peter Ridd, who is now chair of the Australian Environment Foundation.
Peter Ridd, great to see you. A top Australia Day award for Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. Is it deserved?
Peter Ridd:
You’ve got to give it to old Ove. He’s been incredibly successful in what he’s trying to do over a long time. And look, I’m not going to be ungracious. I’ll give him my congratulations. In actual fact, Ove is not the worst of these climate catastrophists. He’s actually come out quite recently in saying that we’ve got to go for nuclear power. He gets a lot of blowback from that because everybody on his side is anti-nuclear and the rest of it, so I’m going to give him it.
But of course, look, these awards, they’re for the establishment, for the insiders, and the insiders own the present, but the outsiders and the rebels, people like you and me, perhaps, well, we own the future. Because what you’re actually seeing is a growing distrust for a lot of this science. A favourite statistic of mine is that polls in America show that 60% of Americans reckon that climate change has become “a religion” that’s being used to control us. So the times are a changing.
Andrew Bolt:
Yeah. Look, I’ve got to say that Ove, personally I found him quite nice. I had a lovely debate with him on the ABC and he did, give him credit, apologise for falsely claiming that he was being paid by Gina Reinhardt. He did admit that maybe he spoke in a bit of anger, I think. What is the state of the Great Barrier Reef?
Peter Ridd:
Record amounts of coral. In the last three years, we’ve never had more coral. This is statistics from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. And most remarkable, the type of coral that is now in just remarkable amounts is the type of coral that Ove and everybody else agrees is the most susceptible to hot water. So how can you have all these supposedly massively destructive coral-bleaching hot water events and end up with record amounts of coral, especially the types of coral that are most susceptible?
So it proves that completely conclusively that it’s been exaggerated. And remember, it’s not just for 30 years that Ove’s been doing it. You go back to the early 1960s when this started, not on climate change, but the death of the Great Barrier Reef has been predicted by these so-called scientists since marine biology got going on the reef in the early 1960s.
Andrew Bolt:
Look, I just don’t get it. I mean, admittedly, apparently the Great Barrier Reef Authority is saying it’s been battered a little bit by the recent cyclone, crown-of-thorns, some runoff from whatever, but at least, to its credit, it’s now saying reefs do bounce back; it’s not irreparable to damage. That’s probably why the reef’s been there for many, many thousands and thousands of years. So what does it say about the state of the science that Hoegh-Guldberg, for all his charm, gets this award and sceptics like you lose their jobs?
Peter Ridd:
What it says is that science has become dominated by the group-think, by the insiders, essentially. And that’s a real problem where you can get something that is quite clearly demonstrably wrong, at least on the Great Barrier Reef. You can argue about what’s going to happen with the climate in 100 years, but what has actually happened in the last 30 years on the Great Barrier Reef is demonstrably wrong. And it means we really need this science auditing, which I’ve been pushing for for the last basically 10 years.
Andrew Bolt:
As you have. Peter Ridd, it’s always great to talk to you. And it remains a tremendous injustice what was done to you, and may you one day, with a change of government, get the Order of Australia that you deserve for courage in the face of a mob. Thank you so much for your time.
This transcript with Dr Peter Ridd talking on The Bolt Report – Sky News Australia from 9 June 2025 has been edited for clarity.
