$150 million spend on space mission raises questions

To be fair, he is doing it from a 'jobs' and 'economy' angle. That money is supposed to help businesses across the country become involved in America's plan and somehow capitalize on it.

There is no doubt jobs and the economy are important, but the real question here is whether that is the best way to spend the money.

I think not, and plenty of you agree with me.

This isn't a small sum - $150 million is big bucks. I cannot help but think about how that money could help our drought-ravaged farmers and our struggling rural towns.

There are some figures being thrown around on social media right now about what this money could buy. It is equivalent to 7.5 million square bales of hay or 7.5 million bags of stock pellets, about 30 billion litres of water or roughly 880,000 round bales of hay.

It's critical out there right now, and with no drought-breaking rain on the horizon it's clear things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

Dams are drying up, towns are running low on water and farms look like a desert. On top of that, the bush fire season has started early and already proved to be catastrophic.

When the food bowl is in crisis - and it is because farming relies on rain, how can this decision be justified?

Of course the defense is that the government is already helping our farmers. But, is it doing enough?

There is a long list of problems with the Farm Household Allowance - just ask anyone who's on it and they will tell you that. Then there is the $5 billion Future Drought Fund - a bucket of money to prepare for future droughts. What about surviving this one? Shouldn't that be the focus until farmers are in the recovery phase? After that preparations for the next one could occur.

I'm still in disbelief that drought is no longer considered a natural disaster. There's no doubt that it is that - and an economic one as well. The farming industry has so many flow-on effects across society - many that we don't even think about.

Belinda-Jane Davis