ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Staff at the Bureau of Meteorology have suffered the same relative fate as their broadcasting cousins today after plans to freeze their pay for the next five years has become public.
A growing number of employees at the nation’s peak meteorological organisation are joining a strike, which is supported by a petition to give the weather-folk what they deserve.
Many in the industry have chalked up the pay freeze to the Bureau’s continued attacks on the Coalition government’s climate policy and their collective blasé attitude toward publishing evidence of climate change.
“That’s not the case,” said Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg.
The swashbuckling Victorian Liberal addressed the media today in Canberra, where he hit back at the green left hypocrites who love spending money that isn’t theirs to spend.
“Their funding hasn’t been slashed, it’s just been put on hold. It’s also got nothing to do with their internal politics toward climate change or what have you. This is simple economics, it is about delivering the budget to surplus by 2019. I used to be a banker, I’ve got an MBA from Harvard, I’ll fucking shirtfront you into 2019, my opinion is right and your home-job tattoo opinion is wrong and invalid,”
“All I’m trying to say is, you mess with the bull, you get the horns, fucko. Look what happened with the ABC. They didn’t toe the company line, now the mortgages on their Glebe townhouses will probably default. Does it look like I give a fuck about that? Run at me, Barry Cassidy. You want a pay rise? Start predicting the weather correctly and stop publishing lies about the climate. Frydenberg out.”
The Advocate reached out to the Office of the Minister for the Environment for clarification on his comments earlier but was told to he still hadn’t calmed down sufficiently to field further questions from the media.
Our reporter also tried to get further comment from the Bureau of Meteorology but was told the government had bugged their phones and staff would be swiftly beaten and stomped on by jackbooted Treasury workers for speaking out.
More to come.
