Abbott Tells Primary School Students Earth was Hotter in Jesus' Day. (May 10, 2010)

Adam Morton of The Age reports that this past Friday the leader of the federal Opposition, Tony Abbott told a group of year 5 and 6 students at Trinity Gardens Primary School in Adelaide to be sceptical about the human contribution to climate change, saying it was an open question and in the midst of a Q & A session said that at the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus of Nazareth it was warmer than it is now.

The then president of the Australian Academy of Science (Suzanne Cory began her four-year term today) Kurt Lambeck was scathing: "To make these glib statements to school students, I think, is wrong. It's not encouraging them to be sceptical, it's encouraging them to accept unsubstantiated information.''

And Tas van Ommen, principal research scientist with the Australian Antarctic Division, which collects climate data from ice cores, told The Age that any definitive statement about global temperatures 2000 years ago was ''completely unfounded'' noting that available data from climate records was too sparse to make clear statements beyond about 1000 years ago.

The Age, asking for clarification, was told by a spokeswoman that Mr Abbott believes that man made a contribution to climate change, but there was an argument as to the extent and what should be done about it.

Assuming the report of Mr Abbott's exchange with the year 5 and 6 students is accurate, that is not the impression he would have left with them.