The former president of the National Farmers’ Federation, Brent Finlay, has accused politicians of “jumping in front of the cameras” while shirking effective policy work on drought and climate change.
As Scott Morrison and his special drought envoy, Barnaby Joyce, toured south-west Queensland on Tuesday, Finlay described the former deputy prime minister and agriculture minister as the last in a long line of ministers who had “no real appetite” for national drought policy in a changing climate.
If we want strong climate action, we need to get the moderate Liberals on board | Erwin Jackson Read more “Climate change and connectivity are the two biggest issues facing the bush.
Climate change is real and we have to have a national drought policy framed on what we know about climate change – the two are interlinked,” Finlay told Guardian Australia.
“Instead of jumping in front of the cameras when a drought is on, we need them to do the grunt work on effective financial measures that allow our farmers to build up cash reserves in the good times to draw upon when the dry comes again.” He also called on governments to start rewarding good farmers who prepare for drought rather than the “less efficient” farmers.
“I went to Labor and the Coalition in 2013 when nowhere in Australia was in drought,” Finlay said.
The white paper did not include climate change in its terms of reference and the NFF was not consulted on those terms.
By recognising climate change, it is empowering resources to support agriculture.” He would like to see a permanent drought commissioner placed in the prime minister’s office to be proactive on policy development and climate monitoring.
This would be a significant move, as it would place the commissioner out of the hands of the agriculture minister, who is a National party minister in any Coalition government.
If it’s in PMO and hopefully its bipartisan, it elevates the management of the position.” Finlay was president of the National Farmers Federation for three years from 2013, coinciding with the last months of the Gillard-Rudd Labor government and Barnaby Joyce’s first three years as agriculture minister.