Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's chief business adviser Maurice Newman blamed climate change policies for the collapse of manufacturing sector, triggering criticism from opposition parties on Tuesday.

In an exclusive interview with the Australian newspaper, Newman said the climate change policies were driven by "scientific delusion", adding that Australia had become "hostage to climate- change madness".

"And for all the propaganda about 'green employment', Australia seems to be living the European experience, where, for every ' green' job created, two to three jobs are lost in the real economy, " he said.

"The scientific delusion, the religion behind the climate crusade, is crumbling. Global temperatures have gone nowhere for 17 years. Now, credible German scientists claim that 'the global temperature will drop until 2100 to a value corresponding to the little ice age of 1870'."

He said the climate change establishment, through the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), remained "intent on exploiting the masses and extracting more money".

"When necessary, the IPCC resorts to dishonesty and deceit," he said.

His comment triggered immediate criticism from the opposition Labor party, with Acting Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water Shayne Neumann calling him an embarrassment.

"These extraordinary comments from one of Tony Abbott's closest advisors prove the Coalition is not serious about taking action on climate change and does not accept the overwhelming evidence of a changing climate," Neumann said in a statement.

He also called on Abbott to ask Newman to withdraw his comments.

"Australia is now a laughing stock for being the first country to unravel effective climate change policy, going backwards while the rest of the world is taking steps forward," Neumann said. Endi

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