Farmers hand drought strategy to Morrison

The National Farmers' Federation has given the Morrison government its plan for future droughts amid sustained criticism over the lack of a national approach.

While the full policy hasn't been released publicly, the NFF's heads said the document largely focuses on defining roles and responsibilities across all tiers of government when drought hits.

NFF president Fiona Simson said the framework would provide certainty for drought-affected people.

"This policy is not the panacea for this drought," she told reporters in Canberra.

"This drought is unplanned and the actions of government are unplanned. That's due to previous governments before them."

The federation's chief executive Tony Mahar said the framework would provide a rigorous assessment of what needed to be done during droughts.

Ms Simson said a national drought policy was about making sure federal, state and local governments shouldered the burden of devastating dry spells.

"It's something until now every government has shirked," she said.

"So we congratulate the Morrison government on their willingness to embrace and approach this national drought strategy."

The government has rejected calls from the NFF and others over lacking a national drought policy, pointing to measures it's announced for present and future drought relief.

But critics say a more cohesive approach is needed to tackle the next inevitable drought.

In Question Time, federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg said drought was the "number one call" on the federal budget.

Labor pounced on his language, with leader Anthony Cpointing out a range of social services, education, health and defence programs with higher spends.

"This government is loose with the truth," Mr Albanese said.

The opposition also called on the prime minister to establish a drought "war cabinet".

Mr Albanese said the drought should be above politics but had a crack at the coalition while demanding a seat at their table.

"I certainly would welcome participation in a bipartisan way in dealing with the trauma which people in regional Australia and our farmers are suffering from," he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.

"It's a practical suggestion and the government doesn't seem to have been able to come up with a strategy itself, so this is a practical way forward which we have suggested."

Mr Frydenberg said while the drought had stripped 0.25 per cent off Australia's gross domestic product, the government had injected "significant funding" into addressing the impact.

In both chambers of parliament, Greens politicians used Question Time to grill the government about the role of climate change in drought.