Senator WHISH-WILSON (Tasmania) (16:45): It's good to hear Senator Davey say she accepts climate change is real and supports solutions and that she believes agriculture should be part of the solution, because I totally agree. But I think we need to be realistic here. It's no reflection on you, Senator Davey, but you're part of a political party that, since I've been in this place for 13 years, has done nothing but undermine climate action—consistently undermine climate action. One of your colleagues here in the Senate, Senator Canavan, has been on the record—he covered his face with coal dust and put it on his social media—saying that he stands with coalminers. He's very proud of the stance he has taken on supporting dirty fossil fuel energy, which of course is one of the big parts of the problem that we have to solve—how we transition away from dirty fossil fuels. So you can't stand with farmers if you are part of a political party and a movement that is, in its DNA, totally opposed to climate action. I don't need to go through, for senators, all the actions we've seen in this place in the last decade to undermine climate action and transition of our economy, but it has been really sad to watch. We are seeing the weather and the climate change around us now. This is just a small technical point for Senator Roberts: yes, CO2 is plant food; however, as you may know or as any student of botany from high school or university will tell you, the stomata, which take on the CO2 in the plants, will close to conserve water when it gets hot. This is just basic science. I know you don't accept science or facts and you never have, but I'm just telling you how plants actually work, Senator Roberts. On a hot day, they will shut. They won't take on CO2. That's just a little fact I thought you might want to be aware of. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Bragg ): Senator Roberts, on a point of order? Senator Roberts: That is a negative imputation on me—false. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I'll just have to take some advice on that. On this occasion, it may just have been a debating point, Senator Roberts. So I ask you to proceed, Senator Whish-Wilson. Senator WHISH-WILSON: It was a debating point. If I'd called you the village idiot, you'd have a good reason to stand up and take a point of order. But I didn't. I was making a perfectly valid point about how plants work. They have these things called stomata, Senator Roberts, which are tiny little apertures— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I'll ask you to address your remarks through the chair. Senator Roberts, on a point of order? Senator Roberts: Senator Whish-Wilson said that I don't believe in the science. That is false. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Again, I think that's a debating point; I don't think it's a personal reflection or imputation. So I invite you to— Senator WHISH-WILSON: These plants have things called stomata. They are millions of little apertures where they take in CO2. So you're correct; they do actually use CO2. But when it gets hot they close. Anyone who understands the basics of how plants work would be able to tell you that. And, of course, in the future of climate change, it is going to get hotter. We are seeing extreme weather events— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Whish-Wilson, please resume your seat. Senator O'Sullivan? Senator O'Sullivan: I am not contributing to the debate on this, but I think you have asked Senator Whish-Wilson to direct his comments through the chair, and he keeps referring directly to senators. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator O'Sullivan. Senator Whish-Wilson, thank you in advance for directing your comments through the chair. Senator WHISH-WILSON: I thought I was directing them through the chair. My, my, how sensitive we are in the chamber today, talking about climate change and the LNP's and One Nation's decades of opposing it! Farmers, as Senator Ciccone said, are on the front line of climate change. We've got a movement of Farmers for Climate Action around the country who are coming together—there are over 10,000 of them now—and who are talking to each other about how they can take climate action. Senator Roberts might be interested to know that a new report just commissioned by Farmers for Climate Action—which they're talking about on their social media today—surveyed 1,000 farmers, and 70 per cent support clean energy projects on farmland in their community. In fact, this reporting shows, as CEO Natalie Collard stated today: … the quiet majority of rural Australia is clearly in favour of clean energy projects locally, although many don't realise they're part of the quiet majority … And that is because we have a noisy minority in this place who call themselves the Liberal and National parties and who continue to say that they're advocating for farmers and that they speak for farmers when they clearly don't. They clearly don't speak for farmers. Farmers are on the land. They are the ones subjected to droughts, to pestilence—we're seeing significant new biosecurity threats arising because of climate change—to floods, to bushfires, to extreme weather events, to disruptions to their supply chains, to disruptions to port infrastructure, to export markets, and I could go on. They're the risks of modern-day farming, and they're made worse by climate change. But, ultimately, they're made worse by people in here like Senator Roberts who actually don't even want to understand the science. They waste the Senate's time and the taxpayers' time by coming up with motions like this, which are so cooked up with all the different elements to them that they just don't make sense. But I have no doubt that Senator Roberts will find a few seconds of clips to cut out and put on his social media to show that he's got some kind of international conspiracy agenda around climate change and is taking action to support farmers. I look forward to hearing the rest of the contributions. It's been fascinating.