Mr McCORMACK (Riverina—Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development and Leader of The Nationals) (14:33): Reports are one thing. Actually getting on the ground and doing the real work that regional Australia wants, expects and deserves is another thing. We have been very responsible as a government to help our regional communities through this drought. It has been a terrible drought. Yesterday, I spoke at the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal. It is doing a fabulous job with $15 million of Commonwealth money. It was established in 2000 in a bipartisan way with Bill Kelty, the former ACTU leader, and Ian Sinclair, making sure there was bipartisanship. Now a former Labor leader, Simon Crean, has come on board with John Sharp. They are both good men. I have had very strong associations with both. After Simon Crean's departure from this place he has continued his interest in regional Australia. We are making sure that drought affected communities know that we have their back. Certainly, we have provided the sort of assistance that they need. We need to do more, of course. We must and we will do more. The Prime Minister has already flagged that. We will certainly do more. What we have done as well is put a dedicated minister at the cabinet table specifically to ensure that drought is front and centre in all of our policies and in all our discussions at the highest level, and I commend the member for Maranoa for his work. The SPEAKER: The Deputy Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order. Mr Albanese: On relevance, the question went to the reports from the drought task force, the drought coordinator and the drought envoy. It's not unreasonable to expect the parliament to have received them, given there was public expenditure on their creation. The SPEAKER: Just before I call the Deputy Prime Minister, I take the point of order from the Leader of the Opposition. He mightn't have heard it at the start but there was a brief—albeit very brief—reference to reports in the first sentence of the Deputy Prime Minister's answer. Moreover, whilst the question did canvas all those things, it did refer to his answer yesterday. That's why I've been giving him a little bit more latitude. The Deputy Prime Minister has the call. Mr McCORMACK: They have reported to government, and government has acted according to their advice, and that has been important. I also commend the member for New England for his role as the drought envoy. We cannot make it rain. If we could, we would have. These are desperate times for farmers throughout Queensland and New South Wales. Indeed, in the member for Parkes's electorate, they have destocked. There are farming communities on their knees. He is working hard, as we all are, and I appreciate— An opposition member interjecting— Mr McCORMACK: There you go, yelling out again! I appreciate that parts of your electorate are not affected by this drought as much as ours are, but we are working very, very hard, whether it's in Victoria or South Australia. That's why we've provided $1 million to 110 councils throughout the drought affected community to keep generating employment in their towns and to keep money in their towns. As I said, we can, we must and we will do more to help those drought affected communities. I know that the farm household assistance that the member for Maranoa has tweaked in his role as the minister has provided valuable assistance for farming families. Getting rural financial counsellors around the table to talk farming families through this will make sure that they know they are supported. (Time expired) The SPEAKER: The member for Hunter is seeking to table a document? Mr Fitzgibbon: Mr Speaker, I ask that the Deputy Prime Minister table the reports he referred to. The SPEAKER: No, the member for Hunter can't do that. He can only ask him to table any notes he was using.