Author of The Weather Makers Re-examined
This introduction to Wes Allen is written by Bob Brinsmead,
Irenic Publications (www.irenicpublications.com.au)
David Weston (Wes) Allen was born at Gympie in
After graduating in Medicine at the
From 1976 to 1982, Wes pioneered predictive and preventive
medicine in
In 1988, Wes performed the first reported trial on the use
of transdermal nicotine in assisting smokers to quit, his paper being presented
at
More recently, Wes participated in the National Primary Care
Collaborative to improve chronic disease management in
In 1982, Lindy Chamberlain was wrongfully convicted and
jailed for life for the murder of her infant daughter Azaria,
who was taken by a dingo at a campground near Ayre’s
Rock in 1980. Wes immediately initiated a movement to have the case
reviewed on the grounds of the questionable forensic evidence presented at the
trial. He helped to form a 10-member Chamberlain Innocence Committee
responsible for gathering and collating new evidence. This was eventually
submitted to a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Trevor Morling, who handed down his finding in 1987 that the
forensic evidence presented by the Prosecution was seriously flawed. The
murder conviction was quashed and the Chamberlains received a compensation
payment from the government. Very recently, a fourth Inquest into the
death of baby Azaria found that a dingo (a relative
of the Asian wolf) had indeed taken the infant from the Chamberlain’s tent –
just as Lindy had claimed from the beginning. So ended the
most famous mystery killing in the history of
In 1965, Sandy McLeod-Lindsay was wrongfully convicted for
the attempted murder of his wife in their
In 2007,
In January 2010, Wes published a 10-page document, Climate Change: the Science, Spin and Politics, which Senator Abetz widely circulated to his political colleagues shortly before their leader was dumped over his support for Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme. Prime Minister Rudd then abandoned his ETS and was soon thereafter replaced by Julia Gillard.
Wes then wrote a damning critique of Tim Flannery’s best seller, The Weather Makers, and his 400-page review (The Weather Makers Re-examined) was published by Irenic Publications in 2011. Flannery's book on climate change alarmism resulted in the author receiving lots of acclaim and being made Australian of the Year in 2007. Dr. Allen's book was the first published critique of Flannery's book. His review thoroughly dismantled not only Flannery's global warming alarmism, but every significant argument that others had raised in support of global warming alarmism. He did this without making any unkind remarks about either Flannery or any of his fellow climate alarmists. The publishers considered that The Weather Makers Re-examined deserved to be printed because it was convincingly reasoned, carefully researched and thoroughly documented with more than 300 peer-reviewed references - and furthermore, the author had distinguished himself as a scholar and a gentleman even in the context of furious debate.
Behind Dr. Wes Allen’s softly-spoken and unassuming persona is a patient and tenacious scholar who quietly pursues the trail of the evidence regardless of public opinion or even that of his own medical fraternity. He is a man who will stand up for those who are wrongly condemned even against the current of popular sentiment. As an old verse puts it-
“They are slaves who will not speak
for the fallen and the weak.
They are slaves who will not be
in the right with two or three,
Rather than in silence shrink
from
the truth they needs must think.” (
In the 48 years that I have known Wes, it has always been his conviction that the truth of a matter is not determined by its orthodoxy or popularity. At the same time there have been occasions in his life when he has ungrudgingly changed his own opinions when facts emerge that he should do so.
As a quiet family man, he is more inclined to be a tad reclusive than socially extroverted. As a doctor, he has always been greatly appreciated, not just because he is a competent practitioner of prodigious learning and broad experience, but because he has a genuine empathy for people.
Wes is also a dedicated family man. He introduced his children to many sports, and his son, Stephen, went on to win 10 world titles in windsurfing. Now in his sixties, Wes remains fit and active, participating in triathlon events and playing with his grand-kids.