Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to speak to this motion. I support the four points in the motion and strongly support the idea of more research into cloud seeding and related matters. I would like to correct a small point that was in the good presentation by the member for Lyons. He said that the member for Mallee has no support. Quite the contrary: he has. He has already obtained a government grant to run an international symposium on this matter. Being the only person in the House who has done anything like that, we all owe him a vote of thanks, not oblique criticism. As has been said, Snowy Hydro and Hydro Tasmania have run tests to examine cloud-seeding technologies. I support that. In a time of extreme and prolonged drought and with the nation calling out for water facilities, this is something that we as a nation need to pursue.

In my own electorate, we have had some controversy over weather modifications in the form of hail cannons used by the Mundubbera shire. The Central Burnett region is the home of dozens of citrus orchards, and a number of growers in Mundubbera shire have used hail cannons to reduce crop damage from hailstorms. Hail can cause millions of dollars worth of damage to these sorts of crops. Our biggest mandarin exports come from this area, and it can be seen both in Central Burnett and the Granite Belt that the technologies are probably worthy of being trialled.

The whole theory is that shockwaves are sent up from these cannons and that that causes the breakdown of the particles of ice and the rain falls as slush or heavy rain droplets. The practice is that the cannons are activated about half an hour before the storm approaches and usually run for about 20 minutes—typically until the storm has passed. Each sends out waves through the air and alters the mix of gases in the air. The shockwaves spread out to a maximum intensity of about three kilometres in diameter, generally at an altitude of 8,000 to 12,000 metres. While there is some anecdotal evidence of hail cannons working, residents and farmers of Gayndah shire to the east say that it has reduced rainfall to their communities—a negative impact. There is a concern that the use of hail cannons has reduced rainfall to the geographic areas of Wetheron, Byrnestown, Gooroolba, Gin Gin, Rosedale, Biggenden and Coalstoun Lakes and over the Paradise Dam. Gayndah shire has just called for further investigations into hail cannon activity across Australia to establish whether similar rainfall patterns are being experienced.

Earlier in the year I invited my good friend the member for Mallee to address those two groups. We had a meeting of the two shires and the protagonists in the shire hall at Gayndah. I was very pleased to see that a local working group was formed to monitor the use of hail cannons, record data and seek some conclusive scientific evidence. Mundubbera shire mayor, Bruce Serisier, and Gayndah shire mayor, Bill Mellor, are leading the group, which will include three people from each party.

Two years ago the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, as has been previously mentioned, appointed climatologist Roger Stone to see what could be done about various technologies in this field. It will take another year of gathering data before any conclusive results can be reached.

It is noted, again as previous speakers have said, that the Queensland government has allocated $7½ million for a study of cloud seeding. Perhaps these two issues, including that of the hail cannons, could be brought together to seek some clarity in the Mundubbera and Gayndah areas.

The CSIRO has been involved in cloud seeding since the 1940s and through to the eighties. This has produced a number of mixed but inconclusive results. I remember as a young boy living in Stanthorpe that the apple and stone fruit growers fired silver iodine rockets into hailstorms. Although the results were always inconclusive, some farmers swore by them. The CSIRO has come to the conclusion that cloud seeding is effective in a limited number of weather conditions. However, in his 2001 paper, Paulo Hopper of the CSIRO’s atmospheric research division said:

It may be worth again attempting rainfall enhancement experiments in areas where past efforts have failed, but proper planning needs to be done first, along with rigorous independent evaluations.

To achieve that, and for the benefit of all Australians, I call for the establishment of an Australian cooperative research centre for weather modifications, similar to those operating in other nations. (Time expired)

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