Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We've just come out of the warmest winter on record. Climate change is real. It's not a religion. It's not something that you believe in or don't believe in. It is science, and our farmers are hit harder than anyone else, due to a prevalence of extreme weather events. Yet the Leader of the National Party, which purports to look after regional and rural Australia, refuses to accept the challenges faced by people on the land. His archaic attitudes and rudimentary interpretation of climate science and the solutions leave a heck of a lot to be desired, and they leave our farmers and regional centres very vulnerable. As Barnaby blusters and the Prime Minister is at sea in the Pacific islands, where—

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Paterson will refer to members by their correct title, thank you.

Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the Deputy Prime Minister blusters and the Prime Minister is all at sea in the Pacific islands, where this year the focus was on climate change, we can expect little more from a government that has failed to innovate or legislate, even on energy, an area of such importance to our rural and regional areas.

The frustrating part is that innovation exists. We have a wealth of ideas blossoming out of our regional and rural areas, such as hemp seed to fight PFAS contamination, an idea coming from the University of Newcastle in my seat. Our farmers are still the most innovative in the world, yet they are served by a National Party and a government that do not back them.