Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Hanson-Young, for the question. As I've pointed out in private meetings with Senator Hanson-Young, both before and after this event, and as I've said publicly, the government has approached this event as being more like a drought than a natural disaster in the sense of a flood, a cyclone or a bushfire. The reason for that is that, when you think about those sorts of natural disasters, they are rapid events that pass through communities, leaving a very devastating trail, as opposed to this kind of event and as opposed to a drought, which are long-running events that build up over a period of time and that can't be fixed, in the sense of doing something to the event—and we are all waiting for the weather to intervene as soon as possible to disperse this event. But, in the meantime, what we're providing is that $14 million as half of a $28 million package, and that is every single dollar that the South Australian government asked for. Senator Hanson-Young hasn't been able to come up with a proposal about what we should do, other than get out there and issue press releases.