Drought package: $320 million in funding for NSW and Queensland farmers

Updated

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has left the way open to give drought-hit farmers more assistance, on top of the $320 million package just announced by the Government, if the drought worsens.

Farmers, particularly in Queensland and western New South Wales, have been hit by a two-year dry.

Drought package key points: $280 million in loans to help eligible farm businesses recover from the effects of drought

$12 million extra for emergency water infrastructure schemes

$10 million for pest management

$10.7 million for social and mental health services in affected communities

The Government has moved to give struggling farmers easier access to income support and bigger concessional loans but some are worried the new plan does not go far enough.

There is also an extra $10.7 million in funding for programs to help people in "personal crisis", $10 million to eradicate feral animals and $12 million to add to existing emergency water infrastructure schemes.

Mr Abbott announced the package this morning in Canberra with Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce.

The Prime Minister said the package was largely built on existing programs but made them "more responsive".

"There are no magic wands but we will do what we can to help in difficult times and plainly, for quite a large number of farmers right now, these are very difficult times," he said.

"This is not a handout as such. It is a hand-up so it is rather different from previous drought assistance that has been offered by the Commonwealth.

"I think it's both fair and fiscally responsible."

The plan brings forward the start date for looser eligibility criteria for a Newstart-style fortnightly payment for farmers from July 1 to next week.

Loans of up to $1 million will also be available to farmers to restructure debt, cover operating expenses and recover from the effects of drought.

But National Farmers Federation president Brent Finlay says the assistance package will come too late for some farmers who have already been forced off the land.

"Certainly some - their businesses won't come out the other end of this and we're certainly seeing that in north-western New South Wales and certainly in northern Queensland," he said.

"They're the areas that have been particularly impacted for a long period of time.

"We will lose a number of good farmers and good operations at the end of this drought."

And some farmers are concerned the package will not provide the short and long-term assistance needed in rural communities.

Simon Fagan who farms at Coonamble in western New South Wales says there needs to be a cash flow into rural towns.

"It appears to me that it's similar to what was on the table. It's just been rebadged and brought forward," he said.

"I think it addresses some of the problems, but the immediate problem is cash flow and people need money.

"Rain will solve the drought and the farmers will be the first ones to get back on their feet, but the local community will be the one that suffers the longest because we just won't spend money for a period to come."

Abbott says drought akin to a natural disaster

But Longreach grazier John Millson told ABC News 24 that the eligibility changes will make a difference.

"There would be very few people who would have been eligible under that criteria before," he said.

Grazier welcomes relief package A grazier from Queensland's north-west welcomes the funding package but says better terms of trade for cattle and sheep would also help.

"That brings probably quite a few more people into the eligibility."

The Prime Minister said if predictions of a dry autumn in already drought-affected areas prove true, the Government could "adjust" its response.

"Look, this is a response to the current drought at the current time," he said.

"If circumstances dramatically change, obviously the Government will respond further, but we think this is a significant and timely response to the existing crisis.

"If we get new difficulties, well, obviously we'll adjust to them because the job of government is to respond intelligently to the developments of the day and that's what I would hope to do at all times."

Mr Abbott has also sought to head off any criticism that the Government's approach to assistance for farmers is unfair on other areas of the economy that may be in trouble.

"Some of you might be inclined to say, 'well, this is a special deal for farmers'. No, no. This is akin to a natural disaster," he said.

"Some of you might be inclined to say, 'this is a relaxed or super-favourable social security regime for farmers'. No, it's recognising that a farmer in trouble is in a very difficult situation and in a rather different situation to most of us when we're in trouble.

"I think the Australian public get that. I think that people everywhere understand that you can't have cities without a countryside to sustain them."

Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon has backed the extra support for farmers.

"These are people who put food on our table and play a significant role in this country's exports," he said.

"And we can't afford to allow these people to leave the land in the face of what is very much a natural disaster."

Topics: drought, rural, federal-government, government-and-politics, disasters-and-accidents, nsw, qld, australia

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