Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. I refer to the government’s election promise to provide $15 million in top-up funding to drought affected rural research and development corporations. Why has that money not been paid? Why did the government instead cut $63 million from the budget of the CSIRO, which has led to the closure of six research stations?

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

I am surprised the question did not come from the shadow minister for agriculture. He is still over there waiting. One day he will get something through tactics. But I am very grateful for the question, because the leader of the Nationals is right. The commitment we gave for $15 million for the climate change research fund will not be kept, because the $15 million was changed to $46.2 million. I know that would bother the National Party, because we did promise that $15 million would be the figure, but instead we changed the figure to $46.2 million to make sure that we could fully meet the R&D needs because of the needs of looking at climate change, which they as the modern sceptics still do not believe needs to be looked at, because it is not happening at all. But we do understand the needs of farmers to be able to have research and development into adaptation, research and development into reducing emissions of nitrous oxide and research and development into reducing methane emissions. That is what the $46.2 million is for, and that is why the $15 million commitment was not only abandoned but significantly increased. If they prefer a $15 million commitment to a $46.2 million commitment, they should go out and argue that, but the farmers of Australia know exactly why the R&D figures were pushed upwards.