Controversial climate orator Lord Christopher Monckton has launched an attack on the term "climate change denier", saying it seeks to group global-warming doubters with extreme fascism.
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One week after making headlines for likening Australian economist Ross Garnaut's climate advocacy to Nazism, Lord Monckton said there was a double standard emerging within the climate debate and the media.
Lord Monckton apologised last week after he displayed a quote from Professor Garnaut - the Australian Government's chief advisor on carbon mitigation - beside a Nazi Swastika in Los Angeles.
But he was on the front foot at a speaking engagement in Perth this morning, saying the media's habit of dubbing him a "climate change denier" was "accusing me in effect of being on a par with that nastiest form of fascism which is holocaust denial".
"That phrase has been used according to Google, several hundred thousand times," he said.
"There is very plainly a nasty double standard here ... what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander."
Lord Monckton found a welcoming audience for his morning appearance at a conference for small and mid-tier mining companies in Perth.
He is expected to find a more hostile audience tonight when he addresses a gathering at Fremantle's Notre Dame University.
A petition signed by about 50 academics has condemned Notre Dame for hosting Lord Monckton, who concedes he does not have formal qualifications in atmospheric or climate science.
Lord Monckton said most academics would accept the importance of allowing diverse opinions to be aired, and he described Notre Dame's commitment to the event as "gallant".
"This letter was circulating for several weeks gathering these signatures and if it is only 50 academics then academia in Australia is in a better state than many other parts of the world," he said.
The Notre Dame appearance was reportedly funded by billionaire mining entrepreneur Gina Rinehart, but Lord Monckton said he did not know who was helping to fund his Australian tour, which is scheduled to run for most of this month.
A second scheduled speaking engagement at the University of WA next week has attracted shock from the institute's head, who claimed he had no idea Lord Monckton would be speaking on his campus.
Vice-Chancellor Alan Robson said he was amazed to learn from a newspaper advertisement today that the volatile British Lord would be the guest speaker at private function booked at one of the university's venues.
Professor Robson said UWA, which claims to have some of the world's most respected climate change scientists on its staff, had not invited Lord Monckton to speak at the university and did not condone his views.
Lord Monckton argues that climate change is not as big a threat as many Governments, scientists and institutions claim, and he opines that mitigation efforts will be very expensive but do little to slow global warming.
"I reject the position put by Lord Monckton and find his anti-science stance and related comments offensive," Professor Robson said.
"His views denigrate the values of universities such as ours where the quality of evidence-based and peer-reviewed science is paramount.
"However, in any one year, hundreds of non-university activities are booked by groups or individuals who are looking to hire a venue for their events. This is a service the university provides to the community and in no way does it mean that any of these events are endorsed by the university.
"There is a significant difference between a university inviting and hosting a speaker as opposed to a community group or an individual paying to hire a venue at a university."
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