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Monday, 19 September 2011
Page: 6391

Senator WRIGHT (South Australia) (15:46): Mr Deputy President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Leave is granted for two minutes.

Senator WRIGHT: A recent report from the Climate Institute concludes that the mental health of Australians, particularly rural Australians, is being adversely affected by climate change now and states that this will only increase in the future. A further recent report from the CSIRO, looking at 50 winegrowers from southern Australia, has also found that mental health stresses are affecting farmers' decision making and capacity to act and cites earlier research suggesting that farm based suicides in South Australia may be as high as one per week.

This Greens motion recognises these issues; recognises that while farmers and rural people are resilient—and in fact the CSIRO study indicates that those who are coping best are those who are able to adapt to the climate variability that they face—it is important that we ensure adequate funding for rural mental health and assistance for rural Australians to adapt to the future challenges of climate change.

Question agreed to.