Describing himself as an agnostic on climate change, Mr Newman said climate change was an example "of group-think where contrary views have not been tolerated, and where those who express them have been labelled and mocked".
He warned ABC staffers that he would not tolerate anyone suppressing information, citing the fact that a BBC science correspondent knew for a month before the scandal broke of damaging emails at the University of East Anglia in Britain highlighting the politicised nature of climate science but did not report them.
Mr Newman said the Guardian newspaper had noted that the moment climatology is sheltered from dispute, its force begins to wane.
"Which raises an important question for a media organisation," Mr Newman said in the speech obtained by The Australian. "Who, if anyone, decides what to shelter from dispute? And when?
"Should there be a view that the ABC was sheltering particular beliefs from scrutiny, or failing to question a consensus, I would consider it to be a dangerous perception that could lead to the public's trust in us being undermined."
Sources said the speech drew an immediate rebuke from the ABC's Media Watch presenter Jonathan Holmes, who rose to his feet and said he was angered by Mr Newman's remarks.
Sources said Holmes had told Mr Newman he was wrong to assert that sceptics were silenced on the ABC. Holmes declined to comment when contacted by The Australian.
ABC science journalist Bernie Hobbs also spoke, supporting Holmes's view and saying the ABC could not give undue weight to the sceptics and thereby push a sceptics' agenda.
Mr Scott is said to have tried to make the peace by playing down the importance of Mr Newman's remarks.
Sources said while Mr Newman claimed publicly he was agnostic on the issue, he was
a passionate climate-change denialist in private. Mr Newman has told journalists he doesn't believe in the science of man-made climate change.
In an interview on the ABC's PM program last night, Mr Newman explained that he was not singling out the ABC for criticism, saying it had "been more balanced than most" but raising the climate change issue at the opening of the ABC's annual leaders' forum was described by some internally as a pointed message.
He also told staff "there should be no public perception that there is such a thing as an `ABC view' -- we must be neither believers nor atheists but agnostics who acknowledge people have a right to make up their own minds".
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