Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak about Ms Trudy Rainey, a constituent of mine who has been placed in a very difficult situation through the incompetence of the previous coalition government. The Howard government's Retirement Assistance for Farmers Scheme was a program run between 1997 and 2001. It was intended to allow farmers and their partners the option of transferring the farm to the younger generation without it affecting their eligibility for pensions. In 1998, Ms Rainey's parents joined the RAFS and their family farm was transferred to Trudy and her sister.

As a result of the participation in the government initiated scheme and its inadequate parameters around the proper transfer of assets, Ms Rainey has now been forced into significant financial and emotional stress as she faces the loss of the family farm and her future. Sixteen years after the farm was transferred under the RAFS, the mother initiated property settlement proceedings against the father in the Family Court as a result of a relationship breakdown. The result was a ruling in favour of Ms Rainey's mother, with her being awarded more than $300,000 plus court costs to be paid within 90 days of the judgement as her share of the farm asset.

In the ruling the judge remarked that the government of the day had not given due considerations to situations like this arising from the RAFS. The only option available to Ms Rainey as a result of the ruling is to either sell the family farm as a whole or break it up into pieces. If the farm is broken up and the farm does not remain a viable concern, Ms Rainey will be forced off the land to an uncertain future. After a lifetime of farming and giving up opportunities for further education, Ms Rainey's capacity for employment outside of the farm is bleak, further exacerbating the impact of the loss.

The clear intent of the Howard government's RAFS was to provide an incentive for people such as Ms Rainey to stay on the family farm while allowing the parents access to social security. The Raineys entered into this arrangement in good faith and because of the security offered by the RAFS legislation. Ms Rainey wanted to help her parents and forge a career in farming.

I have written to the Minister for Social Services, who basically said, 'Well, she can apply for Centrelink benefits'. I contacted the Minister for Agriculture in February this year. His reply in May tried to simply fob off Ms Rainey. When I wrote back to him in June informing him that he had had Ms Rainey's application for five weeks already. He responded in July that he was looking into it. It is now September and Minister Joyce has done nothing. The Department of Finance is currently considering an act-of-grace application from Ms Rainey in relation to her loss, and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance, the member for Riverina, may be called upon to make a decision on that application. I suggest that this government think seriously about this issue. The loss of family farms through incompetent actions of their predecessors will put the futures of many family farms at risk. I hope that they reconsider the position and help Ms Rainey, not only for her sake but for the 3,000-plus family farms that took off under the RAFS in good faith all those years ago. The coalition talks a big game on being the voice for farmers. Let's see if their actions match their rhetoric.

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