Drought Assistance

Ms KATRINA HODGKINSON (Burrinjuck) [5.04 p.m.]: I bring to the attention of the House the continuing drought in central New South Wales. I also highlight the excellent work that is being done by the Mid Lachlan Alliance of Councils to seek equitable solutions to improve drought assistance measures. The Mid Lachlan Alliance of Councils is a grouping of the Lachlan, Parkes, Forbes and Weddin shires. Weddin shire is part of the Burrinjuck electorate. The Mid Lachlan Alliance is working in partnership with the Bland Shire Council and the Forbes Rural Land Protection Board to address the issues of drought support.

Anyone travelling through western New South Wales and south-western New South Wales at the moment will experience thick dust storms. They will see the lack of stock, the degradation to the land, and the unbelievable struggle that continues to confront farmers. There is hectare after hectare of dead grapevines and dead or dying fruit trees through lack of irrigation water, and entire regions waiting for moisture to begin planting winter crops. The latest drought figures make sobering reading. Between December and March there was a steady decline in the area of New South Wales in drought. This was encouraging to farmers, and me as local member, and raised hopes of the possibility of winter crops and some income. But the April figures are cause for concern. The area of New South Wales that is in drought has risen by 2.6 per cent to 42.9 per cent.

The last occasion when any part of the area covered by the Mid Lachlan Alliance was considered satisfactory was in June 2002. Since then the whole area has been in drought, with the occasional intrusion of small areas of marginal conditions. The mainstay of drought relief for farmers in New South Wales is through the exceptional circumstances framework that was introduced in 1994. While changes have been made to exceptional circumstances support and conditions over the years, the system of criteria, approval and declarations remains basically as it was in 1994. The exceptional circumstances criteria are intended to meet the needs of the farming community when they face a rare and severe drought event. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry defines a rare and severe drought as a one in 20 to 25 year event.

The drought that is facing New South Wales at the moment has surpassed this definition. Some have referred to the drought as a one in a one hundred year event and by others as the worst on record. Clearly this drought exceeds the 1994 criteria and a new approach is needed to ensure that farming will survive as part of the New South Wales economy. The Mid Lachlan Alliance met with the former Federal Government to raise the need for a national strategy to address this drought. It is also seeking talks with the new Federal Government to further highlight the pressing need for drought relief reform. I encourage Tony Burke to meet with the Mid Lachlan Alliance at the earliest convenience.

Last year, as Opposition Leader, Mr Rudd wrote to the alliance supporting the evolution of the exceptional circumstances system. It remains to be seen whether he will honour his commitment now that he is Prime Minister, and I would strongly encourage him to do so. In November last year I wrote to the Premier strongly urging him to meet with the Mid Lachlan Alliance, but to date I have not received a reply from the Premier. I urge the Premier to meet with this group to hear about its concerns firsthand. The alliance has raised with me several issues that must be addressed by all levels of government to give farmers across New South Wales and Australia a fighting chance to survive this devastating drought.

The alliance seeks the introduction of a drought rate rebate scheme for local government and rural lands protection board rates for primary producers and eligible businesses in drought areas; a small business emergency assistance scheme, including relief from payroll tax; cancellation of irrigation water charges when no water is available; an unequivocal extension of the Drought Transport Subsidy Scheme and drought support workers until the drought is well and truly over, and including a post-drought restocking period; assistance for businesses to delay GST payments due to businesses carrying drought debts by farmers; and subsidies to retain core breeding stock. There are more and more empty machinery sheds in areas to the west of Forbes and in Condobolin as agricultural equipment is being repossessed and feed now costs $500 to $600 per tonne. I received an email from the mayor of Weddin shire recently in which he said:

The situation is getting worse every day with the hot days drying off all available feedstocks and sapping any moisture from the ground. I take calls from many districts and the asking list can never be totally satisfied which we fully realise but something must be done or the social cost of the total collapse of farms, businesses and schools in the areas that we represent will never be overcome. In Grenfell recently nearly 300 persons from Grenfell and surrounding towns and cities attended a Roads to Recovery mental health awareness and support update, which was organised by the Rotary Club of Grenfell. This is serious stuff. Something must be done.

Councillor Maurice Simpson is right: something needs to be done. I call on the State and Federal governments to meet the challenge to ensure that once the drought is over we will still have an agricultural industry in New South Wales.