Professor Peter Ridd suing the James Cook University over sacking

A JCU professor who was sacked for criticising his colleagues’ “untrustworthy” science on the health of the Great Barrier Reef says he spoke out because the findings were being used to shape legislation and damage Queensland’s tourism industry.

A JCU professor who was sacked for criticising his colleagues’ “untrustworthy” science on the health of the Great Barrier Reef says he spoke out because the findings were being used to shape legislation and damage Queensland’s tourism industry.

Peter Ridd is suing the James Cook University for sacking him last year after he spoke out about his beliefs that “misleading”, “deficient” and “untrustworthy” science was being released by its researchers about the impact of global warming on the Great Barrier Reef.

Climate change sceptic Peter Ridd claims JCU fired him to ‘shut him up’

Under cross examination in the Federal Court, Dr Ridd today said he spoke out in the interest of “scientific integrity”, saying the research was being used to help shape legislation on dredging, mining and fertiliser use and negatively affected tourism and jobs.

“The science needs to be rigorous because it affects a lot of people,” Dr Ridd said.

“Yes it’s an extremely serious allegation….it’s a serious accusation with a serious point.

Former JCU climate scientist Peter Ridd claims he was unfairly dismissed from his job with the university for publicly voicing his opinions on climate change. Picture: Liam Kidston

“I’m saying work coming from these organisations cannot be trusted because there’s not enough checking, testing and replicating being performed.”

Dr Ridd was first censured in April 2016 after he contacted a journalist about his concerns “sensationalist” photos of the reef were being distributed by authorities including the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) which purported to show the reef dying in an area his research showed had “spectacular” coral.

He was again censured in in November 2017 after he made comments about reef research on Sky News, saying he was sceptical of researchers warning the reef was in dire health due to global warming because his research showed otherwise.

Dr Ridd was censured specifically over two comments in the interview which included comments that researchers were too “emotionally attached” to the situation and that he believed the community could no longer trust scientific organisations including the AIMS and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.

Prof Ridd was then sacked by the university in April last year over claims he had further violated the code of conduct.

He today defended his decision to start a website and crowdfund as part of his defence, saying he had “completely lost faith in the (university’s) disciplinary process and “thought it was my only chance at survival as an academic”.

Barrister Chris Murdoch QC, for the university, said Dr Ridd had denigrated” his co-workers, was “insubordinate and disparaging” to supervisors and “damaged” the school’s reputation with his comments.

Dr Ridd’s barrister Stuart Wood QC yesterday argued JCU had wrongly used its code of conduct to justify the sacking but failed to adhere to the enterprise agreement which allowed staff to express controversial or unpopular views.

He said the justification for sacking was “mind blowing” and “implausible in the extreme”.

But Mr Murdoch today said that was not the case.

“The reality is that the actual conduct that he was disciplined for was not an exercise of intellectual freedom,” he said.

The trial continues.