Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Will the minister outline what new action the government is taking to support farmers and communities both in Parkes and other drought-affected areas across Australia?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Parkes, who allowed me into his electorate with the Prime Minister. It has been part of the hard work he has done over such a long period of time—and not only him, but also the member for Farrer, Susan Ley, and the member for Maranoa, Bruce Scott. I also commend the Leader of the Opposition and thank him for his support. I think issues such as this should rise above politics. It is a clear example of the Australian people who are seeing mums and dads doing it tough and are under the pump and who are saying, 'That for this issue we'll put politics aside, because we must concentrate on these people, who are such a clear reflection on who we are.'

I would also like to thank the people of the Australian cities—in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane—who when they are vox-popped say that they get it; they understand quite clearly that these are people who need to be supported because they live by the vagaries of the weather. They live by the fact that for the last 18 months or two years they have had no income stream and they have no prospect of one for the next six to eight months, in many instances. Nobody else would want to see themselves in that position, where someone would say to you, 'Well, not only have we not paid you in the last 18 months, but we don't intend to pay you for at least another half a year.' You could not survive.

The question clearly pointed out some of the advantages of this and how we move things forward. I want to point out a few of them. We will be moving the assets test on what was formerly known as the Transitional Farm Family Payment to the new settings so that it goes from 1.5 to 2.55, exempting the farmhouse and also allowing off-farm assets that are comparable to what you would get under other social security packages. We will also make sure that we give the capacity to the person to earn money off farm up to the value of $80,000, providing that their interest bill is in excess of that. What you will often note, and the member for Parkes will be aware of this, is that the money from that just goes straight to the bank. We will also be making sure that people have access to a concessional rate of four per cent for a million dollars or 50 per cent of their loan, whichever is the lesser, so that we keep control of that credit and we are prudent with the finances of our nation. The advantage if someone has money at, say, eight per cent and they can refinance down to four per cent—$40,000 per million over five years that is $200,000 and that is a real advantage.

We will also be looking at mental health and we know how important those issues are. We will be re-investing in them. There are other issues such as wild dogs—people might snigger about it—but it is important. There is no point in feeding the sheep if the sheep are getting eaten by wild dogs and other animals. Water infrastructure is also vitally important. I commend the work that has been done by so many and I thank the Prime Minister for his support.