Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Leader of the Government, representing the Prime Minister. Minister, my heart goes out to the many people who have been affected by the bushfires in Tathra and in south-western Victoria. They have suffered terrible losses and we must all come together to help them rebuild. I have spoken to many who have lost their homes after previous bushfires—including some of my own neighbours. Like them, they have asked me—in fact, pleaded with me—to bring up the link between climate change and bushfires. They say that treating the symptoms and not the cause is putting them at risk. Minister, you say that now is not the right time to talk about climate change. What do you say to those many people who have called on us to say that right now is precisely the time to be talking about climate change and the impact it is having on them in their lives?