Des Houghton: University of Qld a propaganda tool of Green Left

The University of Queensland can boast some interesting research and laudable achievements, but the institution has become the propaganda tool of a particular ideology, writes Des Houghton.

SOMETIMES I get the feeling the University of Queensland has allowed itself to become a propaganda tool of the Green Left.

The university’s media communications team pumps out endless press releases that seem to me to promote green causes. Many contain glossy photos and videos. They are slick.

I’m told by an insider there are 37 journalists and designers in UQ’s communication and publications team, more than most newspaper or television newsrooms on any given day.

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They dutifully report some interesting research and laudable achievements by the uni.

I’ll go off on a tangent here and admit my fascination about press releases featuring animal research. Did you know, for instance, that darker male giraffes have been found to be more solitary and less social than their lighter counterparts? Or that marine biologists are on the hunt for missing manta rays? Wombats, crocodiles, black swans and marine worms have also featured in recent releases.

The University of Queensland at St Lucia, in Brisbane’s west. Picture: John Gass

However, some press releases have anti-mining themes in discussing global warming, bushfires, conservation, sustainability, animal extinction and threats to the Great Barrier Reef.

A sampler: “Young voices in fight for climate justice,” and, “Marine parks face an uncertain fate in changing ocean.” Green evangelism rules: “The biodiversity is over – let’s save the planet.”

Some press releases have overt political messages. “As thousands of wildfires and deforestation escalate in the Amazon rainforest, a team of international scientists has called for governments to enact six key goals to protect the vital wilderness,” said one. That’s right, unelected academics telling foreign powers how to behave. Good luck there.

More political spin: “Habitat destruction shows federal laws are broken.”

I’m not sure that is right. The real story is the ambiguity created by overlapping state and federal laws that delay projects and thereby stall royalty payments.

There is little balance in some releases that I can see. In a recent search I was unable to find a single release about advances in clean coal technology or the great wealth delivered by the resources sector to radically boost our standard of living in the past 40 years.

And when I asked the UQ media team to find me an academic to speak in favour of mining, they couldn’t. Not one.

Briana Collins and Sean Ryanin the Galilee Basin, near where Clive Palmer proposes to mine coal.

I think the university propaganda machine crossed a line this week when it issued a press release supporting young arts-lawgraduate Briana Collins, introduced as one of the “young voices in a fight for climate justice.”

Collins “is determined to change the world,” gushed the release. With the help of her law school mentor Professor JustineBell-James, Collins had teamed up with the Environmental Defender’s Office “to bring her idea for a novel climate change case to life”.

Collins and her supporters are taking action to block billionaire Clive Palmer’s 7.2 billion Waratah Coal development in the heart of the Galilee Basin.

“Our argument is that the protection of human rights in Queensland requires positive action to mitigate the impacts of climate change,’’ Collins said. “As a result the coal project proposed by Waratah Coal should be refused if decision makers are to act compatibly with human rights.”

Collins is articulate and obviously genuine, if in my opinion, misguided. With the help of her UQ and EDO minders, Collins argues forcefully that Palmer’s mine would “limit the ‘right to life’ of young people in particular”. She adds: “The science is clear that climate change has an all-encompassing effect on human wellbeing, and therefore human rights.”

There is a hearing in the Land Court of Queensland next month.

Clive Palmer at a press conference to announce the United Australia Party would field candidates at the October state election. Picture: Richard Gosling.

Collins is entitled to her views even if I don’t agree with them. But I question whether it is appropriate to have UQ media teams acting as her cheer squad and her publicity agent.

Her action seems pointless to me. Even if she succeeds in closing every mine in the country the impact on global warming (or not) would be infinitesimal.

The three-page Collins press release was accompanied by a photo of her visiting the Galilee with Sean Ryan, a solicitor with the EDO. I’m wondering who paid for the airfares, the accommodation, the travelling expenses and the photographer?

The Galilee has massive untapped coal reserves including Gina Rinehart’s proposed $6bn Kevin’s Corner and Alpha projects.

I might not agree with everything Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart do, but are towering business giants whose efforts help keepthis great nation afloat. The royalties and taxes they pay provide the coin to keep the schools and universities going.

There should be statues to Clive and Gina on the university campus.

And while UQ is often happy to promote a green agenda, it is also happy to churn out hundreds of mining engineers, geologists,chemists, and geotechnical professionals to assist in the extraction of coal and other resources. Where was the press release about that?

Des Houghton is a media consultant and former editor of The Courier-Mail and the Sunday Mail.