Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. Will the minister update the House on how the government is demonstrating our commitment to supporting farmers and their families by providing immediate assistance to help put food on the table and cover basic expenses during the drought?

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Grey for his question. In fact, I was in the electorate of Grey recently and attended the Jamestown Show, where I was fortunate enough to do a Q&A in front of 200 farmers, who expressed to me their concern about the cancer of this drought that continues to spread right across eastern Australia and now into South Australia. They expressed to me their concern and their desire, their need, for support—support for their families and their communities.

Proudly, our government has lifted the farm household assistance program by $12,000. We're now putting $37,626 into families' pockets, to make sure that their household expenses are being paid for, to give them the dignity, the respect and the time to make decisions during this tough drought. We're supporting that by also making it more accessible, by extending the net asset test from $2.6 million to $5 million, to make sure that those who are doing it hard, right across the board, are able to get this assistance in terms of household payments.

We've also made sure that we've understood that this drought has been prolonged more than anyone ever thought. We've extended the term from three to four years, to make sure that the time to be able to make those strategic decisions is allowed. We've put in place a mechanism, through our rural financial counsellors, investing in an additional 39 counsellors to complement the 116, to sit around kitchen tables and help them fill out the application. We understood that the application was long and tedious; we've cut it by a third. But we've also worked with Centrelink to make sure that we can open them on Saturdays, to expedite these applications, to get that money into farmers' pockets. We understand the importance of giving our farmers that dignity.

That's why it's important that, tomorrow, the drought summit that the Prime Minister has called brings together a review of our drought policy, which, with all due respect, has been bipartisan since 1992, and we thank those on the other side. But we need to make sure that our drought policy for the future is fit for the future, and it's important that we bring federal and state agencies, charities and industry together to work to ensure that we have the best framework to support our farmers.

We should always remember that our farming families are the cornerstone of regional and rural Australia. But it's also important to understand that the story of agriculture is still a good one. It's one of 'just add rain'. We've taken the agricultural sector from a $36 billion industry to a $64 billion industry in just eight years, and that has been predicated on trade agreements. The important thing is to understand that, while the drought has hit, ABARES estimates that, even this year, we will still have a $60 billion industry that is contributing to the Australian economy. We should be proud of the fact that our Australian farmers produce the very best food and fibre in the world.