In his entire time as MP for Bathurst, as a former local councillor and as a member of a family on the land, has he ever mentioned “climate change”?

Does he have the faintest idea what climate science has been telling the world since Margaret Thatcher first brought the issue to global politics in 1989, three decades ago?

Does Paul Toole know the difference between weather and climate? Does he even care in the slightest that the climate is becoming both hotter and drier and the policies of the National Party, of which he is a member, are to blame?

Every single farmer’s livelihood is directly correlated to the weather conditions they face on the farm. More and more they are beholden to longer-run seasonal averages - like the average temperature, average rainfall and resulting soil moisture – that make up the climate, defined as the 30-year average of daily weather readings.

A warming climate is the single biggest business risk faced by farmers today.

Just as we are seeing right now, bad droughts can decimate farm viability and destroy farming families. Across the Central West, the impact of global warming means more droughts, more often and more severe.

What are Paul Toole and the National Party doing to fix the fundamental threat of these business-destroying climate patterns? Answer: nothing.

Why? Because Paul Toole and his National Party still don’t even acknowledge climate change is actually happening, despite weeping rivers of crocodile tears while seeing the bleeding obvious when visiting bone dry farms.

Remember, the National Party want to use government money to build coal-fired power stations, thus applying more climatic pressure on farmers despite mounting proof renewables are cheaper and more effective.

It beggars belief just how Paul Toole and his party have recklessly and deliberately avoided understanding climate science and the impacts of climate change, all for personal political gain, but at the real expense of their very own farmers.