More than a suitable hat
Week one for ‘Sco Mo’ as ‘Pro Mo’ – younger people’s slang for Scott Morrison as Prime Minister – and his first conundrum might well have been how to get his hands on a suitable hat.
His first duty was, after all, to head to most unfamiliar territory for the Sydneysider – right into the heart of drought-stricken Queensland where farmers tell it like it really is and don’t suffer fools, or foolish choice of hats, gladly.
It’s a great tactic to shift the attention from the carnage in Canberra and tug at the heartstrings of city folk who just seemed to have discovered the seven-year long drought in Queensland and the shorter-lived drought in NSW.
Put the Prime Minister in the mid- dle of a dust bowl with lots of rugged looking farmers and make the former hard-edged, tough treasurer look like an empathetic, caring kind of guy.
Let’s hope he can pull it off. I always thought former Prime Minister John Howard looked very awkward whenever he donned the Akubra and headed bush. You got the sense he was wishing he was anywhere but where he was and was only doing it because the polls said he had to be there.
But people knew what to expect with Howard. All eyes will be on Morrison. As treasurer, he was reluctant to spend more money on drought assistance. So will he suddenly drop the frugality and become pragmatic?
Turnbull did a drought tour of NSW less than three months ago and it became glaringly obvious the State Government was more agile in coming up with help for farmers than Canberra.
If Morrison just makes the most of being photographed with farmers and looking sadly at dry earth and hungry livestock, it could do him more harm than good.
His agriculture minister David Littleproud has already questioned whether climate change is real and said the only thing that can break the drought is rain.
So Morrison can’t expect any revolutionary policy from him. So what are the options?
It’s been suggested water held in the Murray Darling Basin with the Environmental Water Holder be released to use to irrigate fodder crops. That’s been given the kybosh by Irrigation Council chief executive Steve Whan, who says the government would have to legislate to allow it to happen, which would make a dangerous precedent.
The simple fact of the matter is governments have always grappled with drought policy and are yet to come up with a resounding solution.
Let’s hope our new Prime Minister, for his sake at least, does more than just strut his stuff and then dust off his hat and head back to Canberra. If a very real commitment to supporting farmers isn’t given, it will be seen very clearly for what it is.