Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Question time in this place is getting more bizarre by the day. It is the last week of the Senate sitting, and those opposite have no strategy or tactics when it comes to question time. We had an opposition National Party senator get up and ask a question today in relation to fire strategies. Yet when it comes to the emissions trading scheme, they want to run a hundred miles away and deny that there is anything happening as far as the climate is concerned. When talking about national parks and state reserves, I find it astonishing that a senator would come in and ask a federal minister about something that is clearly within the bounds of the state governments. Why aren’t these questions being put to the New South Wales government? Why would you, in the final week of the Senate, ask such a bizarre question of a federal minister? We have had nothing for weeks in relation to the economy—no questions on the economy. What is clearly foremost in the minds of those opposite is disunity. The common goal that too many of those opposite have is to undermine their own leader. They bring questions into this chamber on topics that clearly lie with the state government of New South Wales.

In terms of fire strategy and what we need to do in relation to ensuring that we do not have a repeat of the terrible disaster in Victoria earlier this year that we are all impacted by, of course we need to take steps. The federal government is taking its responsibilities in that area very seriously. In fact, the Commonwealth government has committed over $26 million to assist the states and territories develop a national telephone based emergency warning system. Those things are incredibly important, but it still comes back to the old question about climate change. Senator Williams has already left the chamber, which shows how little interest he really has in this issue. He denies that climate change is a fact.