Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I can understand yet again why the opposition are so sensitive about this. They had 10 years to do something about these issues and did nothing. Here we are, fixing their mess, making sure we are properly prepared as a country for natural disasters, making sure we have a workforce to deal with these events. Rather than running around pretending climate change isn't real, we're actually taking a responsible approach to this.

I might answer your question in two ways, Senator Lambie. The first answer is: I have seen myself publicity about the fact our government intends to launch a recruitment campaign for ADF personnel more generally. Separate to that: in the disaster space, as I said, we made an election commitment to fund one particular organisation to add to the ADF work, which adds itself to the SES and other state based organisations. We're in discussions with a range of other not-for-profit groups about what can be done. I'd be more than happy to take any views you have, Senator Lambie, about how we can do this better as a country, because I know you, unlike a number of other people, are serious about these issues.