The man promoting the Government’s Intergenerational Report, ABC science commentator Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, has backed away from the document, describing it as “flawed”.

Released every five years, the report provides a snapshot of how the nation might look in 40 years, covering everything from population size and life expectancy to public spending and the size of future budget deficits.

Dr Kruszelnicki appears in a number of advertisements promoting the report on television and radio, in newspapers and on social media, but he is now criticising the report’s reduced focus on climate change.

“I did it on the grounds that it would be not for any political party but for the Government of Australia as a non-political, bipartisan, independent report,” he told the ABC’s AM program…

“I should have insisted there be climate change in it and yet I did not and that was a mistake on my part,” he said…

Dr Kruszelnicki blames himself for trusting the Government. He turned to Aesop’s Fables to explain himself.

“The scorpion says to the frog, ‘can you take me across the flooded river?’ And the frog says, ‘No, you’ll stab me and kill me.’,” he said.

“And the scorpion says, ‘No, I won’t do that because I’ll drown myself.” And the frog says, ‘Yes, you’ll drown.’ So the frog says, ‘hop on my back’, takes him half way across the river and then the scorpion stabs him.

“And the frog says, ‘Hey, you stabbed me, I’m going to die! And so are you! Why’d you do that? Are you crazy?’ And the scorpion said, ‘I can’t help it. It’s my nature.’

“It was my fault for not realising the nature of the beast that I was involved with.

“I really thought that it would be an independent, bipartisan, non-political document.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-15/dr-karl-backs-away-from-political-intergenerational-report/6393152

I find it interesting that it’s taken this long for Dr Karl to back away his support from the IG report… I wonder if there was a sunset clause in his contract that prevented him from making negative comment on the report any earlier…

In any case, what an idiot…. surely you’d hold back your endorsement until you’d had a chance to do the necessary due diligence.

Good on him for admitting he made a mistake.

I was surprised to see him promoting the Liberal Party so enthusiastically.

Ian said:

The man promoting the Government’s Intergenerational Report, ABC science commentator Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, has backed away from the document, describing it as “flawed”.

Released every five years, the report provides a snapshot of how the nation might look in 40 years, covering everything from population size and life expectancy to public spending and the size of future budget deficits.

Dr Kruszelnicki appears in a number of advertisements promoting the report on television and radio, in newspapers and on social media, but he is now criticising the report’s reduced focus on climate change.

“I did it on the grounds that it would be not for any political party but for the Government of Australia as a non-political, bipartisan, independent report,” he told the ABC’s AM program…

“I should have insisted there be climate change in it and yet I did not and that was a mistake on my part,” he said…

Dr Kruszelnicki blames himself for trusting the Government. He turned to Aesop’s Fables to explain himself.

“The scorpion says to the frog, ‘can you take me across the flooded river?’ And the frog says, ‘No, you’ll stab me and kill me.’,” he said.

“And the scorpion says, ‘No, I won’t do that because I’ll drown myself.” And the frog says, ‘Yes, you’ll drown.’ So the frog says, ‘hop on my back’, takes him half way across the river and then the scorpion stabs him.

“And the frog says, ‘Hey, you stabbed me, I’m going to die! And so are you! Why’d you do that? Are you crazy?’ And the scorpion said, ‘I can’t help it. It’s my nature.’

“It was my fault for not realising the nature of the beast that I was involved with.

“I really thought that it would be an independent, bipartisan, non-political document.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-15/dr-karl-backs-away-from-political-intergenerational-report/6393152

Dr Karl Learns a political lesson

A) I bet he kept the money, since he was so vocal about doing it for the money.
B) I’ve heard this same frog-scorpion story a dozen times in the past couple of weeks. Is it flavour of the month or something?

AwesomeO said:

diddly-squat said:

I find it interesting that it’s taken this long for Dr Karl to back away his support from the IG report… I wonder if there was a sunset clause in his contract that prevented him from making negative comment on the report any earlier…

In any case, what an idiot…. surely you’d hold back your endorsement until you’d had a chance to do the necessary due diligence.

Yes, a numpty for not reading it and naive for not realising it would result in a hate shower.

AwesomeO said:

diddly-squat said:

I find it interesting that it’s taken this long for Dr Karl to back away his support from the IG report… I wonder if there was a sunset clause in his contract that prevented him from making negative comment on the report any earlier…

In any case, what an idiot…. surely you’d hold back your endorsement until you’d had a chance to do the necessary due diligence.

Yes, a numpty for not reading it and naive for not realising it would result in a hate shower.

It seems very opportunistic on both sides…

Divine Angel said:

A) I bet he kept the money, since he was so vocal about doing it for the money.
B) I’ve heard this same frog-scorpion story a dozen times in the past couple of weeks. Is it flavour of the month or something?

Dr Karl should donate the money to Climate Science

It all seems to have been a counter productive exercise for the government.

I don’t think that Karl comes across well on TV anyway.

Ian said:

It all seems to have been a counter productive exercise for the government.

I don’t think that Karl comes across well on TV anyway.

I don’t really understand what’s happening in Canberra at the moment… I mean, is the PR department just really crap at their job or are they being hamstrung by more powerful individuals that are just failing to listen to advice.

I could have told Dr Karl not to trust them

How can you trust them when the pm gets his chief of staff off on a drink driving charge

that is interference with the judicial system

How can you trust them when the PM thinks climate change is crap

The Libs Trust the PM, but he lies, makes gaffes, and is clearly not suitable for the job

So how can you you trust the libs when they trust the Sir Tony

How do we know Dr Karl didn’t just sell out and then when his “fans” called him out on it he decided to play victim.

Cymek said:

How do we know Dr Karl didn’t just sell out and then when his “fans” called him out on it he decided to play victim.

We don’t. He said he hadn’t really read the report, did it for the money and had no political afflictions. Bah bow, it didn’t wash with the public. I don’t expect him to be high on this year’s List of Most Trusted Aussies.

Cymek said:

How do we know Dr Karl didn’t just sell out and then when his “fans” called him out on it he decided to play victim.

we don’t…

but as the story goes he was only given a preview of the report before providing his endorsement… on the surface it all looked ace-cakes but after he had a chance to read it he realized it lacked analysis around several key issues facing future generations

Divine Angel said:

We don’t. He said he hadn’t really read the report, did it for the money and had no political afflictions. Bah bow, it didn’t wash with the public. I don’t expect him to be high on this year’s List of Most Trusted Aussies.

Do we know how much he was paid?

Divine Angel said:

Cymek said:

How do we know Dr Karl didn’t just sell out and then when his “fans” called him out on it he decided to play victim.

We don’t. He said he hadn’t really read the report, did it for the money and had no political afflictions. Bah bow, it didn’t wash with the public. I don’t expect him to be high on this year’s List of Most Trusted Aussies.

I wonder if he will ever read the report?

Does anyone ever read the report? It’s released what, every 5 years or so but no one seems to mention it until a “quirky scientist” in a TED-like talk encourages people to look at his video.

Cymek said:

How do we know Dr Karl didn’t just sell out and then when his “fans” called him out on it he decided to play victim.

Dr Karl could ask them to fix the flawed bit

Witty Rejoinder said:

Divine Angel said:

We don’t. He said he hadn’t really read the report, did it for the money and had no political afflictions. Bah bow, it didn’t wash with the public. I don’t expect him to be high on this year’s List of Most Trusted Aussies.

Do we know how much he was paid?

I doubt that information is public – however I’m sure you could request the information under FOI

Witty Rejoinder said:

Divine Angel said:

We don’t. He said he hadn’t really read the report, did it for the money and had no political afflictions. Bah bow, it didn’t wash with the public. I don’t expect him to be high on this year’s List of Most Trusted Aussies.

Do we know how much he was paid?

Not that I’ve seen. He said something about the positions he holds and being an author don’t pay much, so I do wonder what the sweetener for this deal was.

diddly-squat said:

Cymek said:

How do we know Dr Karl didn’t just sell out and then when his “fans” called him out on it he decided to play victim.

we don’t…

but as the story goes he was only given a preview of the report before providing his endorsement… on the surface it all looked ace-cakes but after he had a chance to read it he realized it lacked analysis around several key issues facing future generations

Yeah, it could have been a cynical money-grabbing exercise, but more likely he just made a mistake.

Divine Angel said:

Does anyone ever read the report? It’s released what, every 5 years or so but no one seems to mention it until a “quirky scientist” in a TED-like talk encourages people to look at his video.

someone should do a TED stlye talk on trusting government reports

The Rev Dodgson said:

diddly-squat said:

Cymek said:

How do we know Dr Karl didn’t just sell out and then when his “fans” called him out on it he decided to play victim.

we don’t…

but as the story goes he was only given a preview of the report before providing his endorsement… on the surface it all looked ace-cakes but after he had a chance to read it he realized it lacked analysis around several key issues facing future generations

Yeah, it could have been a cynical money-grabbing exercise, but more likely he just made a mistake.

it was opportunistic

The Rev Dodgson said:

diddly-squat said:

Cymek said:

How do we know Dr Karl didn’t just sell out and then when his “fans” called him out on it he decided to play victim.

we don’t…

but as the story goes he was only given a preview of the report before providing his endorsement… on the surface it all looked ace-cakes but after he had a chance to read it he realized it lacked analysis around several key issues facing future generations

Yeah, it could have been a cynical money-grabbing exercise, but more likely he just made a mistake.

Yes you give Darth Vader the location of the rebel base and he still blows up your home planet

diddly-squat said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

diddly-squat said:

we don’t…

but as the story goes he was only given a preview of the report before providing his endorsement… on the surface it all looked ace-cakes but after he had a chance to read it he realized it lacked analysis around several key issues facing future generations

Yeah, it could have been a cynical money-grabbing exercise, but more likely he just made a mistake.

it was opportunistic

I don’t see anything wrong with a public figure interested in promoting science promoting a government publication that at first sight appears to promote science.

OK he made a mistake accepting the deal before he’d read the report properly, but that doesn’t make it opportunistic.

Might have been opportunistic if he’d just gotten a massive electricity bill.

The Rev Dodgson said:

diddly-squat said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Yeah, it could have been a cynical money-grabbing exercise, but more likely he just made a mistake.

it was opportunistic

I don’t see anything wrong with a public figure interested in promoting science promoting a government publication that at first sight appears to promote science.

OK he made a mistake accepting the deal before he’d read the report properly, but that doesn’t make it opportunistic.

I didn’t think our federal government was interested in science or technology unless it furthers their own agenda. Perhaps it was wishful thinking by Dr Karl they actually do think about the long term future of Australia

The Rev Dodgson said:

diddly-squat said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Yeah, it could have been a cynical money-grabbing exercise, but more likely he just made a mistake.

it was opportunistic

I don’t see anything wrong with a public figure interested in promoting science promoting a government publication that at first sight appears to promote science.

OK he made a mistake accepting the deal before he’d read the report properly, but that doesn’t make it opportunistic.

How can people know if it is opportunistic?

The Rev Dodgson said:

diddly-squat said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Yeah, it could have been a cynical money-grabbing exercise, but more likely he just made a mistake.

it was opportunistic

I don’t see anything wrong with a public figure interested in promoting science promoting a government publication that at first sight appears to promote science.

OK he made a mistake accepting the deal before he’d read the report properly, but that doesn’t make it opportunistic.

Of course he’s free to endorse whatever he wants… but it does, to me at least, feel a little opportunistic on both sides. We have a govt that wants a high profile scientist to give the report credibility and a high profile scientist that isn’t backwards in coming forward when it comes to promoting his brand.

Cymek said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

diddly-squat said:

it was opportunistic

I don’t see anything wrong with a public figure interested in promoting science promoting a government publication that at first sight appears to promote science.

OK he made a mistake accepting the deal before he’d read the report properly, but that doesn’t make it opportunistic.

I didn’t think our federal government was interested in science or technology unless it furthers their own agenda. Perhaps it was wishful thinking by Dr Karl they actually do think about the long term future of Australia

I don’t think that’s true at all… there are a great many examples of where the govt supports the advancement of science and technology.

diddly-squat said:

Cymek said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I don’t see anything wrong with a public figure interested in promoting science promoting a government publication that at first sight appears to promote science.

OK he made a mistake accepting the deal before he’d read the report properly, but that doesn’t make it opportunistic.

I didn’t think our federal government was interested in science or technology unless it furthers their own agenda. Perhaps it was wishful thinking by Dr Karl they actually do think about the long term future of Australia

I don’t think that’s true at all… there are a great many examples of where the govt supports the advancement of science and technology.

The CSIRO got a massive funding cut didn’t it and the Liberals want some half-arsed NBN even though our data needs are only going to increase into the future. I thought we didn’t even have a science minister when Abbott first appointed his cabinet.

Cymek said:

diddly-squat said:

Cymek said:

I didn’t think our federal government was interested in science or technology unless it furthers their own agenda. Perhaps it was wishful thinking by Dr Karl they actually do think about the long term future of Australia

I don’t think that’s true at all… there are a great many examples of where the govt supports the advancement of science and technology.

The CSIRO got a massive funding cut didn’t it and the Liberals want some half-arsed NBN even though our data needs are only going to increase into the future. I thought we didn’t even have a science minister when Abbott first appointed his cabinet.

I didn’t say they were doing all they can, or that I agreed with their priorities; only that I didn’t think it’s fair to simply say they have no interest in science and technology.

As a matter of interest, here’s the original article where he says he agreed to the campaign before reading the report.
here

Dr Karl the politician, took the money and promised to promote the report.

Didn’t look good in the polls so he broke his promise and bowed to the polls.

No different to any politician.

From the Courier Mail:
“It is not yet clear how much he was paid to appear in the adverts, however the overall campaign including production costs would have delivered the taxpayer a bill in the millions.”

http://m.couriermail.com.au/news/national/dr-karl-kruszelnicki-says-he-was-duped-into-appearing-in-intergenerational-report-ads/story-fnihslxi-1227304333258

And I found what I was looking for.

“He agreed to do it to support long-term policy making and because he gets paid “bugger all” by his employers, the ABC and the University of Sydney, he said.”

http://www.southcoastregister.com.au/story/3005441/dr-karl-plumbs-new-depths/

Divine Angel said:

And I found what I was looking for.

“He agreed to do it to support long-term policy making and because he gets paid “bugger all” by his employers, the ABC and the University of Sydney, he said.”

http://www.southcoastregister.com.au/story/3005441/dr-karl-plumbs-new-depths/

He should have gone on Oprah simped around and gotten her to recommend his books

Sorry, that was an opinion piece, but he says it here as well.

is being opportunistic bad?

CrazyNeutrino said:

is being opportunistic bad?

no… but it does come with certain risks

if only they had let me tell people how it was going to be instead of Karl

wookiemeister said:

if only they had let me tell people how it was going to be instead of Karl

Sell you pot plant stocks now ?

Cymek said:

wookiemeister said:

if only they had let me tell people how it was going to be instead of Karl

Sell you pot plant stocks now ?

sell them to me if you like

or invest in the US states that have legalized it

<blink>MONEY</blink>

It is from The Crying Game.

Dr Karl Scorpion the new marvel science communicator – not sure if Karl will like where marvel comics takes him on this ride but I figure he knows what he is doing

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki to donate Intergenerational Report money to needy schools

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-16/dr-karl-donate-intergenerational-report-money-needy-schools/6396824

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/deep-regret-dr-karl-kruszelnicki-to-hand-over-intergenerational-report-pay-20150415-1mm3i0.html?&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=social&eid=socialn%3Afac-14omn0012-optim-nnn%3Apaid-25%2F06%2F2014-social_traffic-all-postprom-nnn-smh-o&campaign_code=nocode&promote_channel=social_facebook

Science broadcaster Karl Kruszelnicki says he will donate any income he receives for fronting the Abbott government’s Intergenerational Report advertising campaign to government schools after admitting to “deep regret” over his role.

Fairfax Media revealed on Tuesday that the popular broadcaster, widely known as Dr Karl, believed the report was “flawed” because of the lack of attention it paid to climate change and his fear it had been “fiddled with” by the government.

snip

But on Wednesday night, Dr Kruszelnicki tweeted: “I have decided to donate any moneys received from the IGR campaign to needy government schools. More to follow tomorrow. Dr Karl.”

lolz

Arts said:

lolz

too slow my dear

meh I quoted

diddly-squat said:

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki to donate Intergenerational Report money to needy schools

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-16/dr-karl-donate-intergenerational-report-money-needy-schools/6396824

LOL what a maroon ;)