George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week Australia was treated to more shameful politicising of natural disasters by the Greens. The burnt ashes of people's homes weren't even cold before Senator Di Natale alleged Australians suffering natural disasters were bearing the brunt of some government policy. He said:

In the last few days, we've seen bushfires savage Tathra, Bega and south-west Victoria. We've seen a cyclone hit Darwin.

News flash for the Greens: it's not the first cyclone to hit Darwin, and bushfires are hardly new. In the century before last, even before Al Gore's grandfather was born, a bushfire in Victoria killed 12 people, a million sheep and thousands of head of cattle. In 1926 bushfires killed 60 people and damaged 1,000 properties. The Black Friday bushfires in 1938 to 1939 killed 71 people and damaged 3,700 properties. What government policy do the Greens blame for these tragedies which pre-date their climate-change religion?

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia has seen an 18 per cent reduction in cyclone numbers over the past 20 years compared with the 20 years prior. In the same period we've seen a 30 per cent reduction in the number of severe cyclones. The politicisation of a natural disaster is bad enough but in this case it's based on lies. Why? Because the Greens want to link everything back to coalmining in an effort to shut down the industry and destroy jobs in my region. While I'm in this place, I will call out Green lies for what they are and I will support jobs for North Queenslanders. (Time expired)