Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hanson-Young for her question. It seems that we're actually playing merry-go-rounds here. I've been very, very clear that Australian farmers, the Australian government, those of us who are involved in food and fibre production in this country, accept the science of climate change. That means that when we have the variabilities in the climate that we have right now—it's not unusual for Australia to be in drought. It's unusual for it to be as devastating as this one, but it's not unusual. So, to say that climate change, per se, in the present, has been responsible for all of the droughts that our country has been through over the last two centuries, and previously, is a long bow to draw. But if you're trying to somehow make out that I don't accept the science of climate change, if you search Hansard or any of my public comments you'll be hard-pressed to find that data, because you won't. We accept the science of climate change. We've got a strong package of measures that we took to the federal election to address it, not just in my own portfolio of agriculture but in Angus Taylor's energy portfolio—