Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Eyre Peninsula is an economic powerhouse. With a gross domestic product of over $5 billion, a world-class farming sector and the Southern hemisphere's largest fishing fleet, the Lower EP doesn't just power South Australia; it powers the nation, yet it is the only region in Australia with a comparable economic output that lacks Doppler radar coverage. Minister Watt's office has advised me, in response to my question on Doppler radar, that the Bureau of Meteorology has no capacity to expand the network. In political speak 'no capacity' means no cash. Frankly, that excuse is insulting when put alongside the $96.5 million the BOM spent on a new website—a website that failed again on the weekend, during floods in South Australia.

We could have built more than three Doppler radars for the cost of these upgrades, and that is why I've launched a public petition demanding the federal government deliver a Doppler radar for the people and industry of the Lower Eyre Peninsula. The Eyre Peninsula Local Government Association are calling for this, and the Eyre and Far North RDAs are calling for this. My state colleague Sam Telfer and the SA Liberals have committed to put $5 million towards this project if they win at the next election, in March, but they cannot do it alone. I'm urging the Lower Eyre Peninsula community to sign this petition. Let's take the fight and force the federal government to step up, bridge the gap and deliver the critical weather data that the region deserves.