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

Senator Hanson-Young, I'm very proud to be part of a government that believes it's the responsibility of the government to provide support to the population when they are in need, so that's what we've done. We've used public funding—taxpayer funding—to provide support to the South Australian environment and to the South Australian community as they need that. We're not actually interested in playing the kinds of political games that the Greens are playing around this to advance some sort of political pointscoring. What we've actually done is work alongside the South Australian government to provide them with the support that they requested, every single dollar they requested, within 24 hours of receiving the request. We're working very cooperatively with them to make sure that support is provided. Again, if the Greens want to focus on issuing press releases, coming up with slogans, holding rallies about this event, that's your right. What we're actually about is providing the scientific research funding and the financial support that people who are being impacted by this event desperately need.