Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Monday I was thrilled to support an incredibly generous initiative that saw a convoy of 23 road trains leave WA bound for drought-stricken New South Wales. The cargo was 2,300 hay bales weighing more than 1,200 tonnes. Their objective was to provide relief to 200 drought-stricken farms by supplying enough hay to feed a thousand cows or 20,000 sheep for 23 weeks. Their destination was Condobolin in the Central West region of New South Wales, a journey of more than 3,500 kilometres. As the convoy rolled across Australia, roadhouses put on complimentary meals for drivers who had volunteered their time and the use of the trucks. When the hay was distributed to farmers from Condobolin, Tullamore, Tottenham, Nymagee and Lake Cargelligo, many struggled to hold back tears.

The charity behind the project, the Rapid Relief Team, said that after Western Australians realised how desperate the drought situation was, it took just two weeks to round up volunteers and $600,000 worth of hay. I was glad to be able to help by expediting the necessary state government permits for the road trains to roll through regional WA. I'd like to thank all those who donated goods and services to make Operation Drought Relief a success. These included: Mammoth Equipment & Exhausts, Great Southern Fuels, Dallcon, Auspan, Duraquip and Wheatbelt Steel, who all supplied trucks, diesel and drivers; LiftRite for the use of a Manitou telehandler; Glenvar for a trailer-load of hay; IOR for 15,000 litres of diesel; and last, but by no means least, Alan Richardson, director of Commodity Ag, for managing the logistics and making me aware of this important drought relief initiative. (Time expired)