Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, that is all appreciated. The concern is understandable and the concern is real. Many people from outside those regions would have been deceived by seeing images of floods over summer and would have thought that a flood means that a drought is over. It does not necessarily mean that, and it is important that reviews of exceptional circumstances are done accurately and in a timely way to try to give people certainty at the earliest possible opportunity.

There is a tension faced at these times—and I was speaking with one member from the opposite side of the House about this earlier today—which is the same tension that was faced by the previous government, which is that you want to make the assessment as early as possible in order to give certainty to people. At the same time, the earlier you make the assessment the higher the risk that you will actually disadvantage people by the answers that are given, if it does not subsequently rain subsequent to the assessment having been made. With that in mind, I expect that I will be able to make announcements following the NRAC reviews in the very near future.

The issue of Centrelink officers making information available prior to a decision being made does concern me and I will make some inquiries about that. For the benefit of the House I also add, because there has been some misinformation around about the impact of the drought reviews which are currently underway, that the drought reviews which are currently underway go to what the policy should be for future droughts. For people in the current drought the rules which have applied on a bipartisan basis continue. The NRAC assessments are being done by the same people who were appointed by the previous government under the same rules with the same benefits.

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