Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

As I mentioned, we have provided assistance to help farms respond to the threat of pests and weeds by improving fencing. We've also provided assistance for farms to put additional water on their properties. That can help their resilience in times of drought in the future. And, as part of the white paper—the first white paper for some time for the agricultural sector—a few years ago, we expanded and allowed more money to go into farm management deposits. These are deposits that help farmers put money away when times are good; they are then able to take it out when times are bad, without having to pay the extra burden of tax that would be associated with cyclical types of income. Today, thanks to the coalition's changes, there is a record $6.6 billion sitting in farming management deposit accounts. I want to recognise the efforts of the agriculture minister as well, who has applied pressure to the major banks to allow a product that can allow FMDs to be offset against their other loans with the bank. That is helping the farming community enormously and making for a more resilient farming sector.