Drought Assistance

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (15:25): In parts of my electorate, and indeed in parts of our state, a lot of people are doing it hard. Farmers and pastoralists are doing it incredibly hard at the moment, as the grip of drought extends. I was somewhat surprised, during the Marshall government's first budget estimates, when I asked a question about what tangible support would be offered to farmers in our state who are doing it tough and what financial allocation had been made, that the answer was 'nothing'.

There was a fair bit to say about what the federal government is doing, and I will get onto that in a minute, but there was no allocation in the budget or in the forward estimates to look after those farmers and pastoralists doing it hard. I was even more surprised by the latest budget, given the continuation of drought. Once again, the question was asked whether any tangible assistance was available for farmers and pastoralists in this state suffering from the effects of drought, and once again there was no allocation in the budget.

I note that, almost a year ago now, back in November in the Stock Journal, minister Whetstone, when he went to visit a drought-affected area, raised the prospect of having to look at a number of ways to assist farmers. The things that were raised included looking at waiving natural resources management levies, water rates and council rates. Indeed, the minister said that these were things that really do help and things that the Marshall government would give consideration to.

Here we are, almost a year down the track and nothing has happened in that particular area to give some real assistance to farmers and pastoralists in our state. Indeed, with the removal of registration concessions in the unincorporated areas of the state, plus Coober Pedy, Roxby Downs and Kangaroo Island, we have seen some extra charges and levies imposed especially upon the pastoralists in this state. That is going to have an impact on pastoralists.

Of course, the new property tax has been proposed for the unincorporated areas of this state as well. That is going to hit pastoralists. When minister Knoll was asked directly whether this tax would be imposed upon pastoralists, the answer was yes. So here is a group of people in the Far North of our state who are doing it really tough, and, at a time when they need assistance, what they are getting is additional burdens placed on them by this government.

When it comes to assisting farmers and pastoralists who are facing drought, the record of this government is incredibly poor when we compare it with what is happening in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. I acknowledge that in New South Wales and Queensland the drought has been longer lasting and more severe, but we are moving on in this state when it comes to the impact of drought.

The federal government is providing some assistance. As I said, the minister constantly refers to the assistance that the federal government is providing and never the assistance that the Marshall government is providing. The federal government's record is not great. It has had six years to come up with a long-term drought strategy for Australia, and it has failed miserably to do that, to the point where the National Farmers' Federation has taken on some of that work itself out of frustration. At least the National Farmers' Federation accepts the science behind global warming, which cannot be said for a whole bunch of people in the federal Liberal-National Party Coalition.

Of course, the Prime Minister did appoint Barnaby Joyce to wander around the country as a drought envoy to get him out of the way. Apparently, his report is made up of a few texts that have gone to the Prime Minister, so it will be really interesting to look at those texts from Barnaby Joyce. This state needs to do far more when it comes to provide tangible assistance for farmers and pastoralists doing it tough.