House debates Questions without Notice
Climate Change
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition
Nick Champion Wakefield, Australian Labor Party
is to the Minister for Agriculture—
Harry Jenkins Speaker
Order! The member for Wakefield will resume his seat. Let’s get this clear: the Leader of the Opposition has precedence over people on his side; he does not have precedence over everybody else.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Government Members:
Government members interjecting—
Harry Jenkins Speaker
I understand that that is a matter of opinion but, in the rotation of the call, the member for Wakefield has the call.
Nick Champion Wakefield, Australian Labor Party
Thanks, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Will the minister update the House on ways in which, instead of our farmers having to adapt to climate change, we ourselves can change the weather? How successful are the methods, and what probity issues have surrounded the proposals?
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The question is in order under standing order 100 but the answer certainly won’t be. I respectfully ask that it be closely monitored.
Harry Jenkins Speaker
Order! The member for Warringah will resume his seat. Again, I thank the member for Warringah for his reassurance of my assessment that the question was in order. I will now invite the minister to respond to the question and we will listen to the answer.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
I want to thank the member for Wakefield for the question, which goes to the point of whether anyone has prescience over the weather. Yesterday I referred to attempts that have been made with respect to government policy that would aim to manipulate the weather through cloud seeding. I referred to one of the problems being that the technological papers that were provided were all in Russian and the briefing to Australian officials was also given in Russian. So I went out and had a look and finally managed to find a Reuters article describing what the Russian cloud seeding technology has been doing. Unfortunately, the article is a year old—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
I really think you want to hear it! I quote from Reuters:
Russian air force planes dropped a 25-kg … sack of cement on a suburban Moscow home last week while seeding clouds—
Opposition Member:
An opposition member—So what?
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
So what? This is the technology we are talking about—
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. This is a joke that the minister is talking about. The technology that he is attacking does not involve cloud seeding.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition
You are a moron!
Harry Jenkins Speaker
Order! The Leader of the Opposition will withdraw.
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition
I withdraw, Mr Speaker.
Harry Jenkins Speaker
There is no point of order. The minister will respond to the question.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Government Members:
Government members interjecting—
Harry Jenkins Speaker
Order! The House will settle down, especially those on my right.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
I do understand why the Leader of the House made a reference to Mark Latham! The article goes on to say that the police in Naro-Fominsk said:
A pack of cement used in creating … good weather in the capital region … failed to pulverize completely at high altitude and fell on the roof of a house, making a hole about 80-100 cm …
The article continues:
A spokesman for the Russian Air Force refused to comment.
The homeowner was not injured—
fortunately—
but refused an offer of 50,000 roubles—
Harry Jenkins Speaker
Order! The minister will resume his seat. The member for Warringah?
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
3:14 pm
This minister is abusing question time. I move:
That the member be no longer heard.
Question put.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Last Friday afternoon, the Leader of the Opposition offered his own definition of ‘corruption’. He offered his own definition of what it was when you use taxpayers’ resources to seek advantage for one of their mates. It is not my definition; it is his definition of corruption.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Mr Speaker, on a point of order: under standing order 104, what has this got to do with the question he was asked?
Harry Jenkins Speaker
The question towards the end had, from what I scribbled down, probity issues involved.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Mr Speaker, on the point of order: at the risk of trying your patience, the question was about probity issues in connection with climate change. Clearly, that is not what the minister is talking about.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Under that test, was the payment against departmental advice? Yes. Was it for a mate? Yes. Was it for a donor? Yes. Did somebody end up receiving that money? Yes. Every box is ticked, according to the Leader of the Opposition’s own definition of corruption.