Senator WHISH-WILSON (Tasmania) (15:37): I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to a question without notice asked by Senator Di Natale today relating to bushfires. The most important role for a government—any government—is to protect its citizens. Senator Di Natale's question raised a very, very important topic and issue in the Senate today in Senate question time: what is the role of the federal government in protecting its citizens in this country from the bushfire and the climate emergency that we've seen unfolding in recent weeks? We've been asking these questions for years because we have seen these fires and the changes in our weather patterns: fires outside of fire season and fires burning in areas where we've never seen them burn before. We've been asking these questions now for years. What is the role of the federal government in protecting its citizens? If we are entering a future of climate breakdown—and that's what all the best available science tells us—where we're going to see more and more extremes, more droughts, more cyclones, more floods, more ocean warming events, then the federal government must play a critical role in defending the life and property of its citizens. I ask senators to consider this: what do you think is the biggest threat to national security—to every Australian citizen in this country? What is the biggest threat? If we're talking about threat to life and we're talking about threat to property, I ask you: what is a bigger threat than the kinds of wildfires we've seen in recent weeks? Senator Di Natale asked the government today whether they're going to respond to the experts in this area—the delegation of 23 fire chiefs who've been wanting to meet with the Prime Minister to ask for more resources and for more coordination from the federal government in how we respond to disasters and how we build resilience to disasters in this country. Once again, just like the Prime Minister fobbing off the fire chiefs, the government completely dismissed Senator Di Natale's questions today. The Greens initiated a Senate inquiry over two years ago into the role of the Defence Force in the future of climate change. I was very proud to be part of that committee. We heard from hundreds of experts about the threat posed to our national security from the breakdown that we're expecting to see in climate. It's interesting that we talked about the role that the Defence Force can play in helping protect Australian citizens from wildfires and other extreme weather events. Just this week, in this chamber at Senate question time, we heard our defence minister say that we are seeing an unprecedented rollout of the Australian Defence Force this week to help communities affected by these horrendous bushfires. I honestly didn't think I would hear that in this chamber in my time in the Senate, but it's already happened. Where is the planning for the disaster resilience we're going to see in a future of climate emergency, or in today's climate emergency? The Greens in 2016 and 2019 took to the elections a policy—informed by the Senate inquiry, may I say—to spend $500 million on a national disaster response unit that would coordinate between states and bring the assets necessary, such as the fire bombers that Senator Di Natale asked about today, the helicopters and the remote area firefighting capability. Where's the leadership not just on acting on climate change but on how we're actually going to adapt to this future that we've got to face? May I say, while we're at it, that, if it's a matter of funds and money, I just give one example to senators: through the petroleum resource rent tax loopholes, we've allowed fossil fuel companies who are creating the problems that we've got today to take away $380 billion in tax credits. That would climate-proof our country 10 times over if we were to recoup those kinds of revenues and spend them where they're needed to protect Australian citizens. It is a government's number one role to protect its citizens. This government has failed, and it has been caught out. Now is the time to plan for a future of climate emergency. (Time expired) Question agreed to.