The Abbott government has abolished the Climate Commission, which had been established to provide public information on the impacts and potential solutions to global warming.
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Environment Minister Greg Hunt rang chief climate commissioner Tim Flannery at 10am on Thursday to tell him the body had been shut down.
Plans to shut down the Climate Commission, along with a range of other climate-change related institutions, had been flagged by the Coalition heading into the 2013 election.
Professor Flannery, who has been Australia's chief climate commissioner since 2011, is due to hold a press conference at 1.30pm in Melbourne.
Speaking to Fairfax Media on Wednesday before the decision, Professor Flannery said: ''Given the highly contested and political nature of this stuff, you need a body that's trustworthy.''
''In years past it might have been the CSIRO, but they are now so politically bound in what they can say,'' he said.
Since its creation two years ago, the commission has produced several public reports on topics including the impact of climate change in Australia, global action being taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the potential of renewable energy.
A spokeswoman for Mr Hunt confirmed the Environment Minister had called Professor Flannery on Thursday morning to inform him that the Climate Commission would be abolished from Wednesday.
She said Mr Hunt had also signed off on a brief to begin drafting legislation to repeal the Climate Change Authority as part of the Coalition's broader efforts to remove the carbon price.
She said the government would hold more discussions with the authority in coming weeks.
While the Climate Commission can be abolished by the minister at any time, the authority can only be shut down by an act of Parliament.
The authority was created to advise the government on emissions reduction targets and caps and to detail international efforts to combat climate change. The authority was due to release a draft of a report on targets and caps next month.
A Climate Change Authority spokeswoman said it understood the government intended to abolish the agency through the repeal of legislation, but had not been notified it would be would up.