Determining whether a region or farm is “in drought” is a longstanding and complex problem which remains important to our future drought response.
An aerial shot of The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam reservoir filling up. Taken in 2020.
Photo by Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2020
Nile communities carefully monitored and recorded the river’s flow. Centuries later these records are still being used by water resource managers around the world to analyse unpredictable river flows.
The Adelaide Desalination Plant will be cranked up to full capacity to free up 100 gigalitres of water from the River Murray for use by farmers.
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The question in drought relief is this: do we want more or fewer people to be involved in a farming activity that is vulnerable to drought?
‘More generally, this does reflect a lot of tension and angst within the National party,’ says Michelle Grattan on the Hanson dairy deal.
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Speaking with The Conversation’s politics podcast, McCormack said in hindsight, it would have been better to have told Nationals who’d been agitating for the code that negotiations were underway.
The Deputy PM urges farmers considering leaving their farms to ‘take every bit of good advice available before they take that ultimate step’.
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Deputy PM Michael McCormack on the drought and restive Nationals
The Conversation, CC BY33,7 MB(download)
Following tensions in the Nationals party room over the bring-forward of the dairy code for Pauline Hanson, the Deputy PM admits that the party leadership mishandled the situation.
McKenzie wrote to Hanson saying the code - which would inrease the negotiating power of milk producers - would be ready later this year, instead of next year as indicated earlier.
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Following a deal with Hanson, some Queensland NSW Nationals were so furious that a leak canvassed mutterings about the possibility of a “spill” move against deputy leader Bridget McKenzie.
Michelle Grattan says the announcement of extra money for drought-stricken farmers “won’t be enough” to alleviate pressure on the government on the issue of drought.
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On two fronts now Morrison, who likes to be in control, is at the mercy of events he can’t control: the drought, and the IMF’s downgrading of Australia’s growth outlook.
Can prayers bring rain to drought-stricken parts of the country? Our prime mInister hopes so.
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Yes, Australia naturally cycles through dry and wet periods. But that doesn’t mean we can simply build more dams and trust they’ll be filled.
The battle between Jones and Morrison came down to the repeated, and, for the seething Jones, existential question, ‘How does that feed a cow?’
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Alan Jones unleashed his well-known tactics of lecturing and insult as he accused Scott Morrison of failing the immediate needs of drought-stricken farmers.
A senior water researcher at the institute said politicians don’t want to talk about private dams because “they do nothing for drought-stricken communities”.
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Research shows water restrictions can mean well-off households have to cut down on leisure and luxury. For disadvantaged households, and particularly women, it is a different story.
Policies such as subsidies for livestock feed risk weakening proper management incentives for farmers to plan for and adapt to drought.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Neal Hughes, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) dan Steve Hatfield-Dodds, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
We need to make sure well-meaning policy responses to drought don’t do more harm than good.
The Flock Bronzewing is an inland species that is vulnerable to drought. Those vulnerabilities are heightened in an era of climate change and increased risks from feral predators.
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Professor, Research School of Earth Sciences and Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, Australian National University