Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I will keep my words brief. The Greens also support the Farm Household Support Amendment (Ancillary Benefits) Bill 2010. We think this is important. It is a new approach to how we handle issues related to drought and climate change. As I have noted in this chamber a number of times, in my home state of Western Australia we are already starting to feel the impacts of climate change in some of our farming areas. Our farmers in Western Australia are extremely adaptive. Coming from an agricultural background, I understand very clearly how hard they work and how they do adapt to changing circumstances and climate variability. However, you get to a point where it is extremely difficult to adapt. So I think this is a good, innovative trial. My concern is that it is not being funded for long enough. We will see how this goes, but I do want to put on the record that the Greens support this and are pleased to be seeing such a new approach being trialled.