Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

For much of the past decade regional Australia has been gripped by drought. The drought has crippled regional communities across Australia not just this week or this month or this year; we have been in severe drought conditions for almost a decade. But if you were listening to the Prime Minister last week or paying attention to the media you would have thought that the drought had just suddenly occurred. It certainly seemed to have just occurred to the Prime Minister. Hello, Prime Minister! We did not need you to tell us there is a drought, because I am, and people like me are, living in it.

Over the past few days we have seen the Prime Minister in the media empathising with farmers left devastated by the drought—saying that the government has not forgotten them and that it will stand right by their side because they are ‘an important part of the national psyche’. While I absolutely support extra funding for struggling farmers, the Howard government has provided a short-term fix and failed to secure the long-term future of Australia’s important farming industry. The long-term future of our farming industry rests on our governments, state and federal, working towards solving complex environmental problems. No amount of money will make it rain, no amount of money will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and no amount of money will reverse global warming. I say to the Prime Minister: with almost a decade of drought conditions in Australia it is time to wake up. To borrow a phrase from former President Clinton, it is time to acknowledge that this is not just a one-off drought, ‘It’s climate change, stupid.’

Complex environmental problems such as drought, increased bushfire risk and loss of biodiversity will certainly continue if the Howard government fails to commit to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, develop a sustainable renewable energy industry and market and assist our coal industry to develop more environmentally sustainable operations. Prolonged and intense droughts such as the one our farmers are currently battling will continue if the Howard government continues to ignore international scientific experts.

The cost of global warming is already mounting. Drought is estimated to cost $8.1 billion in lost farm production, and taxpayer funded drought assistance to farmers is likely to top $500 million. The reality is that if the federal government does not address global warming much of our agricultural sector will have no future. Recent CSIRO research suggests that eastern, south-eastern and south-western Australia are heading for drier winters and springs, just when farmers most need rain. CSIRO reports have documented the consequences in our region of a two-degree increase in temperatures by 2030. By 2070, average annual rainfall in these seasons could be 35 per cent lower in south-east Australia and as much as 60 per cent lower in the wheat belt of Western Australia. Flows in the Yarra have fallen 29 per cent over the past 10 years; Geelong’s main water supply, the Barwon, has fallen by 34 per cent; and Ballarat’s main source has fallen a staggering 60 per cent. If anyone still believes global warming is not already affecting our environment, they have their head well and truly in the sand.

As things stand, the Howard government’s climate change policy is a farce. There is no national climate change action plan and there are no time lines, no targets and no real policies to significantly reduce greenhouse pollution or slow energy demand. The government’s renewable energy policy is a joke and cannot even be described as a token commitment. While I welcome the funding increase announced for farmers, if the government thinks it has done nearly enough it is gravely mistaken.

In addition to the broader issue of climate change, there are also pertinent and ongoing issues surrounding the amount of red tape and planning, which are hindering struggling farmers from accessing urgent EC funding. Take the examples of Gordon and Ballan in my electorate. They are both considered to be EC drought declared areas, but if you travel just 50 kilometres to Snake Valley, Beaufort or Learmonth the farmers are not so lucky. They have been unable to get their areas EC declared, despite receiving exactly the same levels of rainfall and having the same pressures as the farmers in Gordon and Ballan. I know that farmers who are on the other side of that line are still doing it tough; they still sit around the kitchen table at night wondering how they are going to pay the bills and buy stock feed—if they can actually access any.

It is all very well for the Prime Minister to say he stands by farmers, but if the system that has been established means it is difficult for areas to be EC declared, or if accessing EC assistance means too much red tape or few farmers eligible to actually access it, the Prime Minister’s words are just that—words. I go back to the point I made at the start of this adjournment debate: the Prime Minister’s sudden discovery of drought beggars belief. Yes, Prime Minister, we are in drought, but it is climate change. (Time expired)

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