David Hawker (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, millimetres—very little. They said that that would be enough. But of course there was an argument going on and the people who were opposing the most were in fact the angling lobby. I think that may say something about the difficulties that farming faces these days when the angling lobby apparently can get the ear of the minister as much as the farming communities.

The other point that came through—and I think this one really does have to be emphasised, although I recognise that the minister for agriculture at the federal level, and indeed probably at the state level, has been very conscious of what he can do—is that there have been some real frustrations with the federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Talking about this water from Lake Sorrell: the application was put in prior to the last federal election and obviously came across the new minister’s table very quickly. It took him six months to say that, no, he could not do it. You can imagine the level of frustration at this delay. Then it got worse, because the opportunity under the EPBC Act to get an extension to consider this had fallen out. The minister then said that he really did not have to look at it anymore, because the time had expired with regard to the application that had gone in. This really does show that colleagues opposite have got to work a bit harder on the federal minister for the environment. I do not think that he is quite conscious of the real desire of some of the people in that region.

I think that the other points that have been raised are very important and, again, I would like to revisit the views that the member for Lyons and the member for McMillan have talked about regarding the effect on individuals. I think that we have all seen what this drought has done to families and, tragically, what it has done to some individuals. We can only continue to try and emphasise the need and the local support that is there in many forms.

I would just like to take exception to another point, one that the member for Bass raised: that some people are denying climate change. I think there is evidence to show that as far as we can go back, for at least 600,000 years, climate change has been normal. We have seen times when we got wetter; we have seen times when we got drier; we have seen times when we got warmer; we have seen times when we got colder—things have not changed. So what we are looking at right now is part of an ongoing series of cycles. Yes, what the drought is doing to individuals is devastating, and who knows what the future holds? Some people are making some pretty wild predictions, but now they are already saying that their predictions have been wrong and that it is going to get worse. That tells you that the models have got a bit to answer for. But in the short time that I have left to conclude I again say that this is a very important issue. I think that it is very important that it has been raised here and I hope that the wider community and the people in the senior echelons of government will take this on board and realise that we will have to do more.

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