Liberal MP Craig Kelly ‘apologises’ to ‘weather girl’ after fiery Piers Morgan TV interview

Craig Kelly has reportedly apologised for calling a meteorologist an ‘ignorant Pommy weather girl’.

Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan rips into Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a segment featuring MP Craig Kelly.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly has reportedly apologised for calling a British meteorologist and television weather host an “ignorant Pommy weather girl” in a post on his Facebook page that was later deleted.

Mr Kelly traded barbs with Laura Tobin and co-host Piers Morgan on the Good Morning Britain television program on Monday where he was accused of being a “climate denier” by the hosts over his views on the effect of global warming on Australia’s bushfire crisis.

Mr Kelly accused Tobin of being an “ignorant Pommy weather girl” in the now-deleted post and said that he “might have to send her some of the published peer-reviewed scientific papers on Australia’s weather.”

Tobin rebutted the post on Twitter, saying that she has a “degree in physics and meteorology”.

Yes I’m a Meteorologist
-A degree in Physics & Meteorology
-4 yrs as an aviation forecaster at the RAF
-12 yrs as a broadcast meteorologist
-Attended a @WMO Climate course last year & upto date with all the science #NotAWeatherGirl #IKnowWhatImTalkingAbout#DoYou?#ClimateChange https://t.co/fvwTpzftTI

— Laura Tobin (@Lauratobin1) January 6, 2020

Mr Kelly reportedly told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that he regretted the way he described Tobin in the Facebook post, but had not contacted her directly as he does not have her contact details.

“I apologise to her. There was a bit of quid pro quo to it, it was at the end of a rather combative interview,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

“I use the word ‘Pommy’ as a term of endearment for all my English mates. The ‘weather girl’ might have been a little bit tongue-in-cheek. But she used the ‘denier’ slur and basically cut me off and didn’t give me a chance to respond.”

Mr Kelly said he deleted the Facebook post because the comments were becoming too heated.

Kelly doubles down

Earlier, Mr Kelly insisted he had not embarrassed the government after denying any links between climate change and Australia’s bushfires in a fiery UK television interview.

The backbencher initially doubled down after being challenged about the government’s handling of the crisis by British TV host Piers Morgan. “He didn’t want to hear the truth, he didn’t want to hear the facts,” Mr Kelly told the ABC.

LIVE: Follow the latest on the fire emergency

Mr Kelly repeated the disputed claim on the UK show Good Morning Britain that high fuel loads were mainly to blame for the scale of the fires. “You have to look at the science and what our scientists are telling us,” Mr Kelly said. He also claimed there was no evidence to suggest a long-term trend towards a warming climate.

Tobin called Mr Kelly a “climate denier” while Morgan told the MP to “wake up”.

“You are facing now one of the greatest crises you have ever faced, and there is you... who still doesn’t think this has anything to do with a heating up planet,” Morgan said.

“Climate change and global warming are real and Australia right now is showing the entire world just how devastating it is.”

‘He doesn’t speak for the government’

But the Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management, David Littleproud, dismissed Mr Kelly’s interview and comments.

“That’s just a sideshow. He doesn’t represent the views of the government and you know what I couldn’t give a rats what he said, it’s irrelevant, let’s just focus on those people that are out there that need our help,” Mr Littleproud said in Canberra on Tuesday afternoon.

“You know there are people’s lives we’re trying to rebuild, there’s 26 people that have lost their lives. I couldn’t give a rats what he said. It’s irrelevant, Let’s just focus on those people out there who need our help. Those tidbits on the side I couldn’t care less about.”

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg also put Mr Kelly at arms length from the government on Tuesday.

“Our view of climate change is that it’s real. We accept the science,” Mr Frydenberg said.

While Mr Frydenberg said fuel loads had been a factor in the bushfires, he said climate change was causing hotter, drier summers.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said he was despaired by Mr Kelly’s comments.

“The tragedy is that he’s imposed those views along with a few others to ensure that Australia isn’t taking action,” Mr Albanese said.

Kelly defends PM

Mr Kelly defended Scott Morrison’s holiday in Hawaii while the fires were underway during the interview. “The ultimate responsibility for fighting fires is the state premiers and the state emergency services,” Mr Kelly said. “The only thing the national leader can actually do on this is basically wait until he gets response from those state premiers asking for more resources.”

Mr Kelly later claimed Morgan “didn’t want to hear the facts” and attacked Tobin on social media as an “ignorant Pommy weather girl’’ who “had no idea what she was talking about”, comments he later deleted.

Mr Kelly denied embarrassing the government with the interview, despite his comments putting him at odds with the prime minister. “The only people who are denying things are those that think ... these bushfires could have been stopped if we had sent more money to China to buy more solar panels,” Mr Kelly told the ABC.

Kelly: Piers didn’t want to hear facts

Mr Kelly took to Facebook after the interview to say Morgan didn’t want to hear the facts.

“Piers Morgan, the Pommy bloke famous for boasting he could bat against Brett Lee, only to cowardly retreat to square leg when Lee bowled to him, simply was ignorant of the facts and didn’t want to know about them,’’ Mr Kelly wrote.

“He clearly had no idea that Australia is a federation with the States having responsibility for emergency management. He had no idea about Australia’s long history of bushfires.

“He had no idea about the debate on hazard reduction burns, or the issue of fuel build up in our forests. He had no idea of Australia’s heavy expenditure on renewables over recent years (we’ve spent more per capita than anywhere in the world)

“He had no idea about the peer-reviewed science of Australia’s history rainfall or evaporation

“He didn’t even know that even the IPCC doesn’t claim that droughts are caused by ‘climate change’. He had no idea that our senior bushfire scientists have said these fires are not caused by climate change.

“So it’s good to see so many viewers in the UK call him out for his unprofessional conduct of consistently cutting me off.’’

Morgan hit back at Kelly’s Facebook post. “Here are some facts, Mr Kelly: 1) Australia’s just had its hottest year on record. 2) Most scientists say climate change is driving the heat higher. 3) Australia’s currently suffering one of its worst ever national bushfire seasons. 4) Do the maths.’’

Here are some facts, Mr Kelly:
1) Australia's just had its hottest year on record.
2) Most scientists say climate change is driving the heat higher.
3) Australia's currently suffering one of its worst ever national bushfire seasons.
4) Do the maths. https://t.co/JKfFlMHsVv

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 6, 2020

Mr Kelly also targeted Tobin, the show’s meteorologist. “Oh no! Ignorant Pommy weather girl calls me a ‘climate change denier’,” Mr Kelly wrote on Facebook, before deleting the post on Tuesday. “I might have to send her some of the published peer-reviewed scientific papers on Australia’s weather, data from Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the IPCC reports so she can educate herself and learn the facts — Australia’s rainfall is highly variable and there has been no drying trend in the last hundred years. And it’s an inconvenient fact for alarmists, that Australia-wide we’ve had more rain in the first 20 years of this century (2000-2019) than the first 20 years of last century (1900-1919). She also might want to educate herself, that it is a fact, that over the last two years Australia has spent more per capita on renewables than anywhere else in the world — and just by a little bit, around 3 times than the next highest nation Germany.’’

Tobin returned fire posting on Twitter: “Yes I’m a Meteorologist. A degree in Physics & Meteorology. 4 yrs as an aviation forecaster at the RAF. 12 yrs as a broadcast meteorologist. Attended a @WMO Climate course last year & up to date with all the science.’’

Mr Kelly said Australia’s resources were limited and needed to prioritise resources towards hazard reduction rather than renewable energy infrastructure.

The prime minister claimed on Sunday his government had always made the connection between climate change and extreme weather conditions. Scientists have disputed claims a lack of hazard reduction burns have led to the size of the bushfires, with ex-fire chiefs blaming the effects of climate change.

With AAP