It might come as a surprise to realise that Australia doesn't actually know how many of its farmers are in drought.

When asked, the Agriculture Department said the Australian Government was not in the business of making drought declarations.

Instead, it said, "its support for farmers is based on preparedness, risk management and support in times of hardship, including drought" irrespective of where they live.

That, as it turns out, is easier said than done, given Australia's drought policy vacuum — perfectly highlighted by last week's drought funding announcement.

Even before the Prime Minister defended his Government for being "too supportive, too generous and too much on the front foot," having announced $1 million for a Victorian shire having its best spring in decades, Scott Morrison's trip to Dalby left many in regional Australia scratching their heads.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack gave the Queensland trip a miss, spending the day in drought-affected parts of his electorate, while National Famers' Federation president Fiona Simson was absent having had little-to-no warning of the announcement.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 34 seconds 34 s Scott Morrison announces additional measures for farmers in drought

Government staff scrambled in the days after to answer questions about when and who would get access to the latest $100 million of drought funding.

On Friday, a department spokesman said grants of up $3,000, to be administered by the Salvos and Vinnies, would be available "as soon as possible".

Three days later, a minister's advisor clarified to say it was "hoped" funding would flow before the end of October.

The Drought Minister's office couldn't answer questions regarding council drought funding — granted by Mr McCormack's infrastructure department — until a "forensic audit" of the program took place.

And there's still no word on when legislation might be drafted, let alone enacted, regarding changes to the Farm Household Allowance (FHA), the centrepiece of the Government's drought response.

The Government estimates 24,000 farmers are eligible for the payments, but fewer than 7,000 farmers receive them.

Farmers are posting on Instagram calling on the Prime Minister to offer greater support to drought-affected communities. ( Instagram: @thewestiswaiting )

Was this actually a message for farmers?

Friday's commitment is the fourth set of changes announced to the program in a little over a year and which seem to have overlooked the key recommendation of an independent review, that said FHA should be administered by an authority other than Centrelink.

Adding some confusion, and possibly insult to others on support payments, Mr Morrison said rural Australians "work hard" and what his government was offering farmers "isn't welfare".

"This is really just helping people make sure that they maintain a viability," he said.

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It might seem a little thing, but for those working in rural media and politics, there's a long-held practice that good news goes out early in the week to catch the longer lead times of the rural press.

So an announcement on a Friday afternoon during school holidays, amid football finals and the long weekends of some states, seemed rushed.

If this was a message for farmers, it's not how you'd typically deliver it.

The PM, fresh from his bells and whistles tour of the White House was, as senior journalists pointed out, perhaps embarrassed by the fanfare of the international travel and keen to reconnect with domestic issues.

Social media was swelling with images of barren landscapes captioned with #scottmorrisonwhereareyou and #thewestiswaiting and a decision announced earlier in the week, to chip in $150 million to help Australian businesses work with the US space program, had gone down like a lead balloon with those feeding out stock or counting crop losses for a fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh season.

Another visit, the same old tune

Before the PM had even arrived in Queensland's Darling Downs, farmer Fiona Aveyard could foresee what would happen.

"They come out, put their boots on, put their Akubras on, there's a script that they continually work off, where they talk about how farmers are incredibly resilient, the drought won't break until it rains and they're there to support us," Ms Aveyard, from Tullamore in NSW's central west, said on Thursday.

Ms Aveyard, a fifth-generation farmer, said her community was grinding to a halt because of the drought.

Farmers are left making tough decisions as the drought grinds on. ( ABC Broken Hill: Sara Tomevska )

"We're all just walking around dazed."

For Ms Aveyard, reflecting on the Dalby announcement this week, it had seemed the Government's response was "reactionary" and simply offered more "stopgap measures".

More is needed.

It is as though there is a policy drought, instead of a drought policy.

"When it comes to drought policy, it's just made up on the run at the moment," Victorian Farmers' Federation president David Jochinke said.

"People need to know what is coming, and when," he said referring to what assistance might be available at what stage of the drought.

But like the benefits of existing drought measures — that is incredibly unclear.

Farmers not sure what good policy looks like

Part of the problem Australia has is that its farmers don't know what they want, and rural communities are unsure about what good policy looks like.

Trawl through comments on social media or listen to talkback radio and you'll hear some calls for subsidies, which others are adamant would jeopardise multi-billion-dollar trade deals.

There are some who call for exit packages so that farmers might be paid to leave the land, or at least to remove livestock while soils recuperate.

Others want council rates put on hold.

Most just want to be able to look after themselves, and almost all farmers say they want to be treated the same.

Right now, some farmers qualify for state-government subsidies to transport feed in or livestock out, distorting the market for those in states without such assistance.

Then there are those who prepare better than others, destocking early and installing water-saving infrastructure — should they be extended the same assistance as the farmer that flogs the soil, and pushes livestock without a thought for what tomorrow might bring?

Should the contractor who cuts the farmer's hay or drives the milk tanker be entitled to the same drought support?

What about the publican or the hairdresser servicing the same community?

Major General Stephen Day has been Coordinator-General for Drought for over a year, but his advice to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack remains confidential. ( Twitter: @ScottMorrisonMP )

These are questions no doubt for Coordinator-General for Drought Major General Stephen Day, but more than a year after his appointment, his advice to Government remains confidential.

While it could be handy in years to come, people are tired of watching the Government bang on about a multi-billion-dollar future fund that is yet to issue a cent to help those currently inundated by dust storms or forced to cart water.

It is easy for the Opposition to slander the Government for its lack of drought policy, picking on the drought envoy for his text messages, but what exactly is Labor offering in return?

Before the election, it promised significant changes to the management of the Murray-Darling, but, four months into the role, its new shadow water minister hasn't exactly made a feature of visiting the Basin.

The last drought policy Australia had was Exceptional Circumstances and it was Labor that chose to phase it out.

'The pressure, the pressure, the pressure'

It is long-held wisdom that the worst time to establish a drought policy is during a drought.

But for farmers like Fiona Aveyard, time is running out.

"We can't express the direness of the situation, it's absolutely dreadful, it's just so hard to express how dire the situation is," Ms Aveyard said.

"The pressure from the banks, the pressure, the pressure, the pressure … There's just no money, nobody has got any money."

With her farm now "roaring into a fourth failed crop" in as many years, Ms Aveyard knows the road to recovery is long.

"I hate asking for help when I don't have the answer, but it needs to be a big answer."

Australia's 85,000 farmers — regardless of how many are drought-stricken — are waiting.