Patrick Secker (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to raise an issue which is very important in the electorate of Barker, which I have the honour to represent. It is affecting many people across this nation of ours, including, as I said, those in the electorate of Barker. Unfortunately, it is something that we generally cannot control, although the negative effects are felt more and more each day. To put it in perspective: my electorate of Barker, covering 64,000 square kilometres, is 10 per cent larger than Tasmania. Nearly 90 per cent of Barker is either in drought or not far off it. So an area the size of Tasmania in my electorate alone is struggling due to drought.

The nation is clearly being affected by drought, with some areas far worse than others. But, as a whole, our rural communities are feeling it. There are farmers who certainly will not be dusting off the header this year or getting the hay baler out of the shed. In fact, I think there are others who have even moved off the land, waving their hands in the air and asking, ‘Well, what can we do about it?’ Farmers have also been forced to sell stock at low prices because they cannot continue to feed them.

Let us look at some examples in the electorate of Barker. In Murray Bridge the average winter rainfall for winter—and it is not a very wet area at the best of times—is 100 millimetres, or about four inches in the old language. This winter the town has experienced its driest winter since 1982, with only 49.4 millimetres of rain—less than two inches. That is the fifth lowest recording in the 121 years of records. That is just one town in Barker. Some towns are slightly better off, although most are actually worse off.

My home town of Keith, like Bordertown and Mundulla, had the lowest winter rainfall on record. It was interesting to see about two weeks ago, when they got half an inch of rain, that people were very happy about that. In a normal year that would be a quite common occurrence. This year, it has been the first rain of that magnitude since April—that is how dry it is. With this, people are getting restless. They want to do something, voice their concern, find out what they can do or just talk to someone about how they feel. I have certainly had an influx of correspondence and phone calls from the constituents of Barker in relation to this issue.

Many are looking for some direction in what to do and what assistance or funding is available. On the other hand, I have also had others who want this government to speak to the person above and get them to organise some more rain. If I could do that, I certainly would. Clearly, I cannot do much on that, but I have been able to listen and hear the concerns of people, and I clearly sympathise with what they are going through. I am a farmer by background. My son now runs the farm, and I realise very keenly what he is going through.

There are certainly some avenues for our rural people to explore to help them in their current situation, but it is not just the finances that are of importance but their health and wellbeing, and farm management of the future. The effects of the current drought certainly are taking their toll on these families. They are putting extra pressure on the purse strings, with families and children having to struggle just to get the bare essentials on the table at night. Relationships are strained with thoughts of: ‘What does the future hold?’ and ‘Will we survive this?’

The domino effect of this drought is hurting other businesses as well. You will not be seeing farmers out to tea or socialising. They will not be buying new clothes or gifts. The outhouse will have to do for another year, as it is too costly to do the renovations now. The tired old lounge will have to be fluffed up with some old foam to make it comfy for another year when there are some spare coins floating around. There will be no new sheep troughs or equipment, no new fencing and no new harvesters, and the ute will just have to have the essentials done to it to make it through another year.

The effect on all the businesses where these purchases would normally be made will certainly be felt in our country towns. Other businesses are having to let some of their staff go as, because of the drought’s domino effect, they cannot afford to pay their wages anymore because there is not the work to do. When we look at the widespread nature of the drought, we see that it is affecting many different industries, from our grains to wine, almonds, citrus and livestock. They are all struggling. My electorate is a very rural electorate, and I feel it keenly.

Thankfully—and I have to give credit—the South Australian Labor government has committed to providing support to the state’s drought affected farmers. Through the government working with various bodies, including the likes of the South Australian Farmers Federation, support is being made available to ease the burden at this time. Assistance is available through a number of hotlines that have been established, including the South Australian government drought hotline, which offers access to support services and local rural financial counsellors, information on Centrelink payments and advice on managing stock and crops. The South Australian Farmers Federation have also formed a rural community mental health and wellbeing task force to support farmers in coping with stress.

It concerns me that, with the federal government committing $1.9 billion of extra money for mental health, the state government in its recent budget—its September budget, which was only four months late—failed to acknowledge any extra cent being spent in mental health, even though, under the COAG agreement, it is meant to commit $144 million of extra funding for mental health.

The federal government is also providing support through a number of initiatives, including the Farm Help program, where families work through a ‘pathways plan’ that combines advice, opportunities to gain new skills through training and up to 12 months income support. A re-establishment grant of up to $50,000 is available for eligible farmers who decide to leave farming. Any worker who loses work or income because of the drought is allowed access to income support such as Newstart and Youth Allowance. At least they will be able to put food on the table at night. The Work for the Dole Drought Force program gives people who lose their job because of drought the opportunity to work on properties or community projects in drought affected areas. A training credit of $800 is provided immediately when you begin the first Drought Force activity. Changes have been made to Job Network services to help job seekers in areas declared to be experiencing exceptional circumstances to get a job.

Unfortunately, I believe that most of my electorate will not qualify for exceptional circumstances, because this is the first year of the drought. Even though many of the farmers in my area suffered last year through low prices for their produce, whether it be wine or grain, I doubt very much whether that will be considered an exceptional circumstance. That is where the problem lies. We as a parliament really need to look at how the exceptional circumstances program works. I am quite happy to put that forward as a proposal for an inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, of which I am a member. I note that the member for New England is in the chamber. He is also on that committee. The exceptional circumstances program is something that we need to look at very seriously. The fact is that in a year like this, which is the worst year on record, in many areas of my electorate people will find it hard to get through this season.

As I said, changes have been made to Job Network services to help job seekers. The government is also assisting people through tax relief and drought tax concessions, providing free financial and personal counselling services. Where to from here? Hopefully, what we can do from here is to conserve as much water as possible. Irrigators in South Australia have had their allocations reduced, first to 80 per cent and now to 70 per cent, as a result of not enough water being in the system. We need to ensure that we have better water infrastructure in this country so that we are not wasting water when it comes to delivering it to our irrigators and our towns. We need to be able to support people through this time, to assist them to bounce back as quickly as possible next year. It is very important that we have a long-term view of this. Whilst we have short-term problems, looking at this with a long-term view will help our farmers to get through problems in the future. I am concerned about the problems we are having and I raise them to make sure that the House is aware of them.