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

Mr Deputy Speaker, on indulgence: I can give the same guarantee that I have given on many occasions. The date that appears in the budget papers refers to the termination of those payments appearing in the portfolio statements of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. It does not refer to the termination of the program. They cease to appear in the portfolio statements. I give the guarantee to each of the farmers in your electorates who are currently on EC payments that, when we reach 1 July in a few weeks time, they will continue to receive the payments. Those budget allocations now appear in the Treasury papers because of a COAG decision rather than in the Agriculture papers. That is why you have an annotation there. Where they appear in the Treasury papers, the usual problem with the forward estimates is still there. But that is the reason for the unusual annotation which is there. I hope that that provides an absolute level of clarity. The people who are eligible at the end of this month continue to be eligible next month and onwards throughout current declarations. I cannot prejudge future NRAC decisions and recommendations as to whether those drought declarations will be renewed, but if they were to be renewed it is certainly the intention of the government that those people continue to be eligible for assistance.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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