Kangaroo Island Bushfire Recovery Support

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is working to help maintain employment and support the economy by providing fodder assistance to fire-affected livestock producers on Kangaroo Island?

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (14:49): I thank the member for Colton for his very important question. We all know of the hardship that Kangaroo Island has been through, not only through the bushfires: they have also endured drought on certain parts of the island as well as the COVID-19 impacts.

We look around South Australia, and we have seen significant impact on drought: the hailstorms, the fires and now COVID-19. What I would say is that, on a very positive side, in April we have seen very good rain, and on the cusp of the grain-growing season we are seeing annual rainfalls well above average. That is very good news, particularly on the back of the very dry three seasons prior. We all know that there is no better stimulus in regional South Australia than rainfall, particularly, as I said, after drought.

If we look around some of the areas in the state, Burra has received 71 mils through April, which is a great outcome—146 per cent above their average. Cleve, the ag town of the year that has been significantly impacted by a number of droughts, has received 90 mils for the year to date. They are 31 per cent above average, and that's a great outcome. In the Mallee, Karoonda and Loxton are well above average. Loxton is 207 per cent above average, and that is a great outcome. Maitland and Minnipa are well above their April average rainfalls, and that really has spread right across the southern connected basin. We see now that in storages we are now up to 32 per cent; that's great news for irrigators.

More importantly, back to the stimulus and the support for Kangaroo Island so that they can be stronger than before, it gives us a sense of belief, I guess, that the people on Kangaroo Island, who have been dealt such a tough blow, have received 63 per cent above average. The island's livestock producers really did cop a significant blow: they saw 60,000 head of livestock lost through those fires. What that meant was that we had to make sure, after they had lost the majority of their fodder, that we did something with the donated hay.

The good Samaritans right across regional South Australia, those farmers, came together: they banded together and brought hay to Cape Jervis. The government came on board with $180,000 to ensure that the donated hay reached the island—that was a subsidy for freight on the boat. We have to understand that that disconnect of the island to the mainland needed a stimulus, and that $180,000 was just a primary stimulus in making sure that that donated hay got to the island.

Again, we have to understand that it was ongoing—losing all their feed and making sure that the livestock was supported so that they could continue to keep their breeding stock. The Marshall Liberal government has announced a further $3.7 million in assistance, and again that package will cover the ferry freight costs for fodder to the island over the next six months. Of course, the good Samaritans around the state again have donated a significant amount of fence posts. That, too, will be subsidised with freight.

The potato seed industry has received a thousand biosecure potato bins that will continue to be freighted over to the island. The $14 million, the $75,000 Primary Producer Bushfire Recovery Grant has paid out 204 farmers statewide. That has been a significant impact in helping Kangaroo Island. We are helping Kangaroo Island farmers through the fires and through COVID so that they can be stronger than before.