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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-25 Daily Xml
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Mr VENNING (Schubert) (16:08): Watching the news on Monday night I was surprised to see Ms Carol Vincent, chief executive of the South Australian Farmers Federation, criticising the Bureau of Meteorology for what she called the inaccuracy of its long-range weather forecasting. I could not help but think that the Farmers Federation was learning from the Premier, who almost daily graces our television screens and bombards the airwaves to inform us that it is all God's fault that it has not rained, and that it is everyone's fault but his that the River Murray is in such a parlous state. Of course, it could be argued that had the farmers had better knowledge of the nature of the growing season many may not have planted their crops. This would have saved them money but, without any income, at best it might have reduced losses and delayed some inevitable bankruptcies by a few months.

However, the smiles that Ms Vincent's remarks may have produced mask an unfolding tragedy which could touch every Australian. While the CSIRO deserves much praise for breeding ever more drought and disease resistant grains, no-one has yet produced a grain that will grow without water—or, indeed, produced a grain variety that will produce profitable crops in the declining rainfall regimes of the Australian cereal heartland. It does not matter how much iron ore we produce or how much uranium and coal we export, it is food and not dollars in the bank that guarantees our continuing life.

Some might argue that with enough dollars we could simply import food; however, with a population greater than at any time in human existence, with increasing acreage being diverted from food and fodder production into biofuels feedstock, and with increasing desertification and salinisation, the additional retiring of previously arable land spells starvation. Whether we confront permanent climate change or, as has been suggested by Professor Mike Young, a 27-year dry cycle, the results will be the same.

This particular Rome has been burning for years, and Nero Rann over there, obviously captivated by Andre Rieu, is still playing his violin. Surely even he must understand that this is no longer a game of spinning every situation to ensure his survival at the next election; surely even he must comprehend that we face a potential crisis, the like of which we have not seen before. We need leadership, we need action: we do not need any more excuses.

Much of our recent attention has rightly been focused on diminishing water supplies and the plight of the River Murray, and that should continue. However, we need both our state and national institutions, with the urgency of a Manhattan project, to devote their intellects and innovation to the plight of our primary producers. Since it is not currently feasible to suggest that our vast acreages can be watered through pipe networks of desalinated water, alternative solutions must be found.

At this time of critical world food shortages, to abandon arable lands because we and the parliaments of the nation could not see beyond the boundaries of our cities, spells not only national disaster but a dereliction of our duty towards the surviving of other countries.

All my life I have heard what some of you are probably thinking now: old Ivan is giving another whingeing farmer speech. I just leave you, the parliament, with this question: would you rather listen and perhaps take in something like this or leave it until you hear the first child you love whingeing because they have not had enough to eat? It is that serious.

As I said in the house this morning, we in this country no longer keep a check of food stocks, and I believe that is a dereliction of our duty. It always used to happen under the regulated system. I am very concerned about that. I only hope that the farmers can continue into next year. In the current situation farmers are totally at a loss to know what to do with their grain, whether to market it or whether to store it, and at what price to sell. This is the issue that our fathers—my father, the member for Finniss's father and the member for Bragg’s father—were very supportive of; they were very supportive of a single desk system. Now we are paying that price.

All of us are looking for leadership on this issue. I just wish the Premier would stop playing politics with such a serious issue, because there is no guarantee that it is going to rain next year. It is high time the Premier started doing things and stopped talking. We are sick of the rhetoric, and the people in Frome are sick of the rhetoric. I think the government will be judged when people vote up there in January. I certainly believe that we are in a serious situation. The government has to lead and stop just talking.

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