Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

This goes to one of the options for how to deal with the upcoming seasonal conditions and policy paths that have been used in the past, which is precisely what I was asked to refer to. If it is something that causes a deal of embarrassment to the Leader of the Opposition now, it is something that he was proud of in the lead-up to the election. What does he do when there is no legitimate data, no legitimate evidence? The same thing that he did when there was no legitimate email—there is no sense of caution; impatience takes over and he just presses the accelerator.

The department recommended that at most there should be a $2 million trial. So what did he provide in response to a recommendation for a $2 million trial? Ten million dollars—on the very same day the election was called, and he writes to the former Prime Minister seeking the money. And who did he do it for? One of his neighbours who was an executive of the Australian Rain Corporation, the same neighbour who was a member of the election fundraising committee known as the Wentworth Forum, with membership set at $5,000 just to get into the room. Every time you hear the confected outrage—

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