An unnerved Brian Fisher is considering walking away from future independent economic modelling after his critical analysis of Labor's climate policy led to his family home being egged after prominent renewable energy activist Simon Holmes a Court posted his address online.
Conservative Party leader Cory Bernardi has consistently called out the whole myth of fighting climate change as a dangerous cult saying nothing we do to mitigate climate change can make any appreciable difference to the world's climate.
Mr Fisher, who is the managing director and chairman of BAEconomics, who has worked as a bureaucrat for Labor and Coalition governments, told The Australian yesterday it appeared "extremely difficult" to have rational, economic debate about climate change in today's political environment and his family felt disturbed by what happened to their Canberra home yesterday.
It is one of the more extreme examples of intimidation during an increasingly nasty federal election campaign.
The egging of Dr Fisher's porch and front wall took place soon after Mr Holmes a Court suggested on Twitter that the media "send a camera crew around to film" Dr Fisher's offices, linking to his home address. He also posted a photograph of the Fisher home.
Bill Shorten also ridiculed Dr Fisher yesterday, likening him to "doctors that the big tobacco companies used to roll out in the 70s and 80s to say that smoking was healthy for you".
It is not the first time Dr Fisher has been threatened. After his initial modelling on Labor's climate policy was released in March, strangers hung outside his house "just being generally annoying".
He was also sent a bullet in the mail in the early 1990s when he worked for the commonwealth and conducted modelling on how the government should extract itself from the collapsed wool buffer stock scheme.
"The environment in which this one (the egging) has happened is a fair bit different because in the past we've been able to identify exactly who has been involved and they were all mentally disturbed," Dr Fisher told The Australian.
"I've been doing this sort of modelling for 25 years because I have an interest in the area and, secondly, I thought there wasn't any rational, transparent debate about the cost of these (climate) policies, whether it be Coalition or Labor.
"I thought it'd be useful to attempt to inject a bit of rational debate ... It appears in today's world that is extremely difficult. I'm having serious second thoughts about whether I'll ever do this again. It's hopeless."
Bill Shorten made his comments about Dr Fisher yesterday after his modelling found the best-case estimate of Labor's 45 per cent emissions reduction target on 2005 levels by 2030 with open access to international permits would result in a GDP loss of $53 billion.
The Opposition Leader has defied calls to put a price on his signature policy and declared his party did not believe the "scary numbers" in Dr Fisher's report.
Mr Holmes a Court, son of the late mining entrepreneur Robert Holmes a Court and a supporter of independent Warringah candidate Zali Steggall, removed his tweet promoting Dr Fisher's address yesterday afternoon.
Senator Bernardi was recently interviewed by Adam Peacock on the podcast Peacock Politics, and explained why he is firmly of the belief that climate change alarmism is utter nonsense.
