Yesterday, Queensland National Party Senator and Shadow Minister for Water, Barnaby Joyce failed to answer three basic questions about his views on water policy.

Today he must explain whether he accepts there is a link between climate change and water security in Australia.

Australia is already a hot and dry country.

The key job of a minister for water in Australia is to prepare Australia for a future with even less water and even more drought as a result of climate change.

But Senator Joyce has refused to accept the warnings on climate change:

“ I never believed the science is settled. ”

(Lateline, 2009)

The CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology have recently said in their joint State of the Climate report that their observations show that ‘climate change is real.’

And they have already confirmed a link between the extended drought experienced in south-eastern Australia and climate change.

They have also warned Australians that climate change could mean up to 80 per cent more droughts in south-west Western Australia, and up to 40 per cent more droughts in Eastern Australia by 2070.

The Garnaut Review found that by the end of this century, climate change could see irrigated agricultural production the Murray Darling Basin, drop by more than 90 per cent.

Senator Joyce must explain whether he accepts that climate change and water security are two sides of the same coin.