Tim Storer (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Drought is a terrible scourge, but in Australia, especially in rural and regional Australia, it is as certain as night follows day. The millennium drought, the Federation drought and the terrible consequences they've had for people living on the land are fixed in our history. Now the resolve, the grit, of country people is being tested again. Ordinary Australians have risen to the challenge, too, dipping into their pockets to support those less well-off than themselves. I encourage others listening to join the effort if they have not already.

Drought is hitting much of eastern Australia again, with New South Wales and Queensland bearing the brunt. But parts of north-eastern South Australia, my home state, have not escaped the ravages of this drought. Parts of South Australia have had their lowest rainfall on record, as have many places further east and north. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, there's only been one Australian autumn drier than this one, and that was in 1902, the year the Federation drought peaked. The Darling River all but ran dry at Bourke, in New South Wales, and the Australian wheat crop was all but lost. This time, many farmers are better placed than their forebears were a century ago. They have adjusted their farming practices to the fact of climate change as the country gets hotter and more extreme. The 20 warmest years on record have all come in the last 22 years, and our droughts only stand to get worse in a warmer world.

It is most heartening, too, to see the National Farmers' Federation acknowledging the reality of climate change. As president Fiona Simson puts it, 'people on the land can't and won't ignore what is right before their eyes'. The attitude of farmers' representatives is not only welcome but has implications for policy, not just for agriculture but also for water and energy. Put simply, the lower the requirement for the energy sector to reduce emissions, the more has to be done by other parts of the economy—for example, agriculture—where the cost of action may be greater. And then there is water. Drought means even less water in the Murray-Darling system, and that means South Australia may once again suffer disproportionately.

That is just one of the reasons the Senate deserves to be able to get to the bottom of what's really happening in the system, and that is why we must find a way to allow Commonwealth officials and advisers to appear before South Australia's Murray-Darling Basin royal commission. The more we know, the better people affected by drought now and in the future will be able to act to ensure the impact on their lives and incomes can be managed. Prevention is always better than cure.