It’s crazy to think that in 2016 there are still people who claim climate change is a conspiracy, despite overwhelming scientific consensus. What’s even more dangerous is when elected representatives act as poster boys for climate change denialists.

Malcolm Roberts is a recently elected senator for the Pauline Hanson-lead party One Nation, known for their controversial and radical views regarding Muslims and climate change.

If you’ve ever seen a video of Roberts discussing climate change, you’ve probably felt the same sensation of uneasiness that you get if a huntsman spider is crawling over your face. You don’t want to believe it’s happening, but it is, and all you can think about is smashing your face into the hardest object closest to you.

You’ll constantly hear him blurt out the word “empirical evidence” whenever the topic comes up. Basically he wants scientific proof climate change is happening, and most importantly, proof that humans are contributing to this issue.

Here are some occasions Roberts has had the opportunity to soak up the truth of the matter, only to reveal he is but a weathered sponge incapable of change:

On Q & A in August, Roberts sat alongside renowned scientist Professor Brian Cox and claimed the data representing climate change had been tampered with by NASA.

Is there evidence a human element is involved in climate change? @ProfBrianCox responds #QandA https://t.co/oaB9b9pUEk

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) August 15, 2016

In October he met with Australia chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel, asking him to prove humans are responsible for climate change. Dr Finkel appears as cool as a cucumber as he explains the clear evidence. You can see the mic sizzling with empirical truth.

And now after meeting with the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), Roberts claims that they should face an independent inquiry because there is (or so he says) a lack of “empirical evidence” relating climate change to human activity.

“We have had complete failure of science in policies that has cost Australian taxpayers and citizens and Queensland residents billions of dollars and has cost lives.”

The irony is, Malcolm Roberts has long claimed that climate change is a “scam” and a “conspiracy”, but in spite of the issue being backed by scientific consensus, his claims are in fact the real conspiracies. I bet he also believes bees do in fact have knees.

Why does he hate on the climate change debate?

Well in his maiden speech to parliament, he stated:

As a result of climate policies, Queenslanders, everyday Australians, have lost jobs, paid higher taxes, wasted opportunities, lost businesses and frittered away scarce resources. Nowhere is this issue more important than in our resource-rich state of Queensland, which stands to lose the most out of all our states.

What he’s yet to understand is that if the effects of climate change continue, it will not only cost humans money, but millions of lives—animals too.

Don’t just take it from me, here’s a message regarding the detrimental effects of climate change from NASA (you know, the people who blast people into space, who can land space probes on comets traveling at 100,000 kilometres per hour).

Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it Malcolm Roberts.