Leon Ashby

Credentials

According to his LinkedIn profile, Leon Ashby attended 1 year at Flinders University. [1]

Background

Leon Ashby is a former dairy farmer and politician from South Australia. He is the creator of the Landholders Institute, which was formed “to proclaim, promote and pursue the economic, social and environmental interests of Australian non-metropolitan communities to the national and international community.” [2]

Previously, Ashby was the director of the Australian Environmental Foundation, a front group founded by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). The IPA is a conservative Melbourne-based think tank that advocates for climate change skepticism. [3], [4]

In 2014 he ran for office under Bill Koutalianos with the Freedom and Prosperity Party, formerly known as both the No Carbon Tax Climate Skeptics Party and The Climate Sceptics. The prosperity party describes itself as the world’s first political party representing climate sceptics, dedicated to “…expose the fallacy of anthropogenic climate change.” [5]

In 2009, the Climate Sceptics party was a sponsor of the Heartland Institute’s 2009 Climate Change Conference.

Stance on Climate Change

In a letter to Australians from the website for The Climate Sceptics, Ashby wrote:

“Anthropogenic or man-made Global Warming (AGW) alarmism is the biggest con, fraud, hoax, swindle, deception and mass hysteria in the history of modern civilization, because climate changes naturally.” [6]

Key Quotes

August 30, 2013

Speaking about the No Carbon Tax Climate Sceptics Party’s chances to secure a Senate seat in an interview with In Daily, Leon Ashby referred to climate change as a “scare” and said:

“It’s not the scare that’s been hyped up by the Greens. We don’t have to reduce CO2. In fact CO2 is actually good for the ecosystem because we grow more plants, we’re going to grow them faster.” [7]

Key Deeds

September 13, 2016

In a speech made to the people of Australia, Malcolm Roberts referenced his connections to the Galileo Movement and his work with other climate deniers, including Leon Ashby. Other prominent Australians mentioned included Viv Forbes, Ian Pilmer,  Joanne Nova, and Bob Carter. [13]

March 6, 2011

Leon Ashby spoke with truth news about the carbon tax. Referencing a lack of media coverage on climate skepticism, he said:

“We’re not denying climate change, we’re not denying that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, all we’re saying is that it’s not actually causing the planet to overheat, therefore the whole thing is a big hoax and we don’t need to worry about it.” [8]

September 2009

In a presentation called “Why an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is not necessary,“ [pps] Ashby explains the scientific reasons why global warming is a fraud and why an emissions cap and trade system will have no significant effects on climate change. In the presentation, Ashby states that “Climate change is natural, and warmer periods occur without human CO2 emissions being the cause” and “co2 increases rarely correlate with the earth’s temperature rising, and any correlation is therefore coincidental.” Citing research conducted by climate skeptic Craig Idso, he states that higher levels of CO2 make the earth greener. [9]

July 13, 2009

A pamphlet written by Ashby was distributed on behalf of the Climate Skeptics at a breakfast event attended by Al Gore. The pamphlet stated 

“Al Gore is wrong, climate change is natural – not man made.  We believe the evidence is overwhelming and the world deserves a proper debate before we reverse our economies and standards of living and starve millions of third world people all for no climatic benefit.” [10]

Affiliations

• Australian Environmental Foundation – Former Director [3]
• Climate Sceptics Party  – Former President [12]

Social Media

• Leon Ashby on Twitter

Publications

A search of Google scholar provides no results for publications by Leon Ashby. [11]

Resources

1. “Leon Ashby,” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed April 22, 2017.

2. “Mission Statement,” Landholders Institute Inc. Accessed April 22, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Et9YP

3. “Australian Environmental Foundation,” Sourcewatch. Accessed April 22, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/LMM3G

4. “Institute of Public Affairs,” Wikipedia.  Archived April 22, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/nV3Bm

5. “Freedom and Prosperity Party,” Wikipedia. Archived April 22, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/kk6ec

6.  Ashby, Leon. Climate Sceptics. Archived February 16, 2009. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/iyvha

7. Mannix, Liam. “Senate Deals Offer Hope to Climate  Sceptic,” In Daily. Archived April 22, 2017. 

8. “Leon Ashby on the Carbon Tax,” Truth News. Archived April 22, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/R9tsn

9. “Why an Emissions Trading Scheme is not necessary” Archived on Desmog. 

10. Ashby, Leon. “Explaining the protest against Al Gore,” Jennifer Marohasy. Archive.is URL:https://archive.is/c64sV

11. “A search of Google Scholar,” Google Scholar. Accessed April 22, 2017. 

12. “Leon Ashby,” Sourcewatch. Archived May 14, 207. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Zti7c

13. Roberts, Malcolm. “First Speech.” Facebook. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/zKGiy

Other Resources

• Profile for Leon Ashby on Sourcewatch