Frost Damage

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (14:50): My question is to the Premier and to the Treasurer.

Members interjecting:

Mr WHETSTONE: Take your pick. What support will the government provide to South Australian primary producers impacted by the recent frost damage that occurred between 13 and 17 September? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr WHETSTONE: Primary producers have reported losses of between 25 per cent and 100 per cent of this year's crop, equating to billions of dollars lost in the state's economy, with some reporting that the cost of harvest outweighs any possible return. Some farmers have also had to sell more than half their livestock to ensure they will have the feed to support them. Many horticulturists will not harvest a grape, nut, citrus or peach product this season, and the grain sector, South Australia's largest ag export, has also seen significant damage.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer, Minister for Defence and Space Industries) (14:51): I thank the member for Chaffey for his question. When I was providing my previous answer in response to the member for MacKillop, I perhaps was too specific in talking about some of the seasonal conditions that we have had during the course of this year. I alluded more to rainfall conditions, to the exclusion of the circumstance that the member for Chaffey has quite rightly highlighted, namely, the impact of other weather and temperature events in causing things like frosts, which similarly and quite literally are shockingly impactful on crops and also on the capacity for farmers to maintain their livestock.

Perhaps what I could say from the outset is that it's not just the rainfall that we are watching; it's also some of these other conditions that are impacting on primary producers. However, I think the comments that I made earlier also stand in this respect: we are very conscious of these particular challenges the primary producers are going through. We are not only watching them from a South Australian primary industries perspective but also liaising with our federal counterparts to make sure that those longstanding support regimens and programs are able to be deployed to try to assist primary producers through these difficult times.

What I will have to take on notice for the benefit of the member and the house is to what extent we are at the point where those support programs are triggered. One of the things that has been enhanced as a result of the state government's response to the River Murray event is a general expansion of our regional counselling services, which are an immediate personal support to those people who are experiencing these conditions.

Some members opposite, as well as members of the government, who have more direct experience of this than I do will know that sometimes, in the first hours of primary producers needing support, it's that personal support and that counselling support that is important, before making sure that they have access to the other support mechanisms that are able to be provided by both government and non-government organisations. At the very least, that is something that we have stepped up. As for more direct financial support, which I suspect is more the basis of the member's question, I will bring back to him how far down the path we are of getting that triggered and activated.