I was unable to attend so I cannot comment on the meeting, but the sad fact is that today politicians and bureaucrats do not want to know that drought is part of our landscape. Before the dams were built, the rivers would nearly dry up, and the environment would die off and when the rain came everything came back to life.

History: The Area News, April 2007; Prime Minister John Howard warned local irrigators there will be no water allocation for agriculture, unless there is substantial rain in the next six weeks. Substantial inflow before mid-May, water in the Murray-Darling Basin would be designated solely for "critical urban supplies" with none left over for irrigation.

The last invisible drought when towns ran out of drinking water, in 2019-2020, general security allocation farmers in the MIA were on six per cent, and farmers were sitting on their hands not producing a summer crop.

In November 2019, the federal government paid the South Australian government to produce water from the desalination plant, $100 million for 100 gigalitres of water for farmers to produce hay.

Irrigators had to go online to apply for water in two lots of 50 megatires, price $100 megalitre of water, open market price $600 per megalitre, the lucky ones were 800 irrigators out of 3200 who applied, the second lot of 50 megalitres was offered in March 2020, and it started to rain in March.

Today the environment comes first, and the water (rain) for the environment comes from the dams that were built to drought-proof our nation in times of drought to produce food.

Many women must be feeling that the Nationals' choice of Barnaby Joyce as their new leader is a slap in the face to every woman in Australia.

This is a man who cheated on his wife then embarrassed her by dragging her into a spotlight she did not want.

A man who made himself the loudest voice against pap smear vaccination "because it would make women more promiscuous". Not the position of a man who cares a fig about women's self agency.

Coming from someone reportedly known around Parliament as "the beetrooter", this is also gross hypocrisy.

This same man, on camera and with a smirk, singled out a female MP in parliament and referred to her as "a flash bit of kit". A power play to demean women and make himself feel superior.

Two female Nationals, Michelle Landry and Anne Webster, have raised concerns about Joyce's return to leadership.

Founding member of Australian Women in Agriculture, Alana Johnson, has commented that the Nationals "are not listening [to women's concerns], otherwise they would not have chosen Barnaby" she told The Guardian.

She said Joyce is one of many trapped in a "male culture of politics" and uncommitted to better representation of women.

And let's not forget that here is an individual who still carries an allegation of sexual harassment of a senior woman in agri-politics.

A female panelist on a recent edition of ABCs The Drum, offered what is probably the conclusive comment on Joyce's return: "Are we so totally lacking in good leadership in this country that someone like Joyce is the best we can do for such a position?"

A fox placed back in the chicken house?

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