Senator McKENZIE (Victoria—Minister for Agriculture and Leader of the Nationals in the Senate) (14:29): I might answer this in my capacity as representing the minister for water, Minister Littleproud. The two million Australians who live and work throughout the Murray-Darling Basin system are actually providing food and fibre not just to our entire country but to the world. It is a hub of clean, green, safe, sustainable food production. It is also—in Shepparton, through the Goulburn Valley, in my home state of Victoria, and in other areas, particularly in New South Wales—the hub of food manufacturing. There are tens of thousands of Australians in these communities, on farm and off farm, who rely on water to be able to ensure they can continue to do what they have been doing for decades—and, in many cases, generations. We know that these communities are under pressure. I was one of the first people in this place coming back from the election to be talking about the heartache, when you are a farmer in drought, of seeing water flow right past your front gate to water an environmental asset far, far away. It is heartbreaking. These farmers have had to come to parliament, and that's why we have been making changes since we came to parliament— The PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson, a point of order? Senator Hanson: Mr President, with just over 30 seconds left, the minister is not answering the question. Will they release 1,000 gigalitres of water to the farming sector? She has not even touched on that part of the question. Waffling isn't enough. The PRESIDENT: Can I go to the point of direct relevance. I again ask senators not to simply restate a preferred part of the question but to bring the point of order to that of direct relevance. Can I remind the senator what direct relevance means in contrast to what relevance used to mean. It used to mean, to quote a ruling of President Baker, that if, for example, a question concerned the state of the economy, the minister's answer is relevant if it refers to the state of the economy. President Beahan said relevance means relevance to the subject matter of the question. The Senate changed the standing orders to require answers to be directly relevant. In my view, to be directly relevant means that an answer must directly refer to or address, including challenging, material or assertions contained in a question or any preamble—that is, it is a narrower test than simply dealing with the same subject matter. It shouldn't deal with the motives of people asking questions unless those motives are assigned in the question itself and, therefore, it would be in order for a minister to challenge those. I just want to remind senators of that because direct relevance is a narrower test than relevance, which was the old subject matter. Minister, Senator Hanson highlighted part of her question. I can't direct you how to answer a question, as long as you are directly relevant to part of the question. And it was a lengthy question in this case, with a preamble, Senator Hanson. So I will listen carefully to the minister and ask her to continue. Senator McKENZIE: I took the question to mean that we need more water in basin communities who are suffering from drought and near-zero allocations in some states and very low allocations in others. In these conditions what water there is for the environment is being used cautiously to minimise irreversible damage. At the beginning of August the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder commenced the delivery of the southern spring flow targeting environmental outcomes. I think it's useful to note that the Water Act does not allow water set aside for the environment to be given to farmers either as a loan or as a gift. The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, a supplementary question?