Protecting our farmers from a drying climate with industrial hemp

I have spent years in the consultation room listening to people. When a patient comes in with a chronic condition, you do not just treat the symptoms; you look at the root cause and prepare for the future. Today, our agricultural sector is facing a diagnosis that is increasingly grim. The South West is drying out. Aridity is intensifying. Our traditional crops are feeling the heat, and their growing cycles are shrinking before our eyes.

The looming drought in our backyard

The recent National Climate Risk Assessment report makes for sobering reading. It confirms what many of us feel in our bones: the climate is shifting rapidly. This is not just a policy problem for people in offices. This is a visceral threat to the livelihood of every farming family in our state. If we do not adapt, we are looking at scorched paddocks and empty accounts. As a doctor, I see this as a preventative health issue for our economy. We cannot afford to wait for the crisis to become terminal.

The versatility of industrial hemp

I stood in the House today to ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food about the progress of the review into the Industrial Hemp Act 2004. It has been over a year since the government spoke favourably about this. Since then, the evidence has only grown stronger. Industrial hemp is one of the most resilient and versatile crops we have at our disposal. It thrives where others fail. It can be the backbone of a new, sustainable economy for the South West, but only if the government lets it off the leash.

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Waiting for the cure

The response from the government was, unfortunately, a familiar one. While they acknowledge the research trials being conducted at Manjimup, they are still burying the legislative review under a pile of other priorities. They say it is a commercial decision for farmers, but how can a farmer make a commercial decision when the law is stuck in 2004? While the major parties play politics with timelines, forward-thinkers see the potential for hemp to transform our building, textile, and carbon sequestration industries.

We have the data. We have the desperate need for resilient crops. What we lack is the political will to treat this with the urgency it deserves. We are not just talking about a plant: we are talking about the survival of Western Australian agriculture in a changing world. I will keep pushing because our farmers cannot afford to wait forever for a prescription that works. You can view the full details of this exchange in the official Hansard record and help us drive real change by joining Legalise Cannabis WA today.