Drought Assistance

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:36): My question is to the Premier. Are farmers having to wait until June for additional support from the government? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: At a press conference on Monday the Premier said the government was turning its mind to providing relief to farmers in the context of the state budget in June.

Mr Teague: He said it again just now.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:36): Yes, I did say it again just now and I am happy to say it again: yes, in the context of the budget in June. That means a number of things. It means that in this government we are quite proud of the fact—but not excessively proud—we take some satisfaction that we have been able to deliver three budget surpluses. It's been a while since many governments around this country have delivered three consecutive budget surpluses.

The way you deliver budget surpluses is that you make sure that when you make spending decisions, expenditure decisions, you know how one links to the other, how one affects the other. We have had significant expenses on the budget more recently, particularly because of Whyalla. Obviously, we announced the package that we did before June of $18 million and what we are making sure we do is that when we approach the challenge of drought and how we expend funds, you have to make sure two things are true: firstly, that you are spending the money in a way that makes the biggest difference, and then secondly, you are making sure that you are accommodating it in the appropriate budget settings.

So in terms of the decisions that we have made up until this point, we particularly look at the things that have been oversubscribed already. So the on-farm drought infrastructure grants, for which there is $5 million allocated, we know they have been extremely popular. If that popularity, in terms of the number of applications, speaks to the fact that there is a policy, it speaks to a policy that is in demand and worthy, potentially, of further investment.

But there are other areas, of course, where we have already shown considerable support, including the $2 million that we have provided to charities to assist them with the support of freight, particularly hay or other potential forms of fodder, to regions that are doing it tough. There are a number of organisations that have been the beneficiary of that. The charities—and these are good people: Need for Feed, Rapid Relief Team, Rural Aid, Farmers Relief Agency—have all been beneficiaries of that, along with one that I think deserves a lot of credit and that's Aussie Hay Runners who have been doing a lot of work across the state.

We know that there is potentially an opportunity to see yet more feed get to critical locations, which is important for livestock at the moment. We have allocated $2 million to that already, and there may be an opportunity to unlock more opportunities through that funding.

I note that Aussie Hay Runners themselves have put out a statement today; they only put it out this morning, I understand. I won't read it verbatim, although I am happy to. It goes into a bit of detail about the work that Aussie Hay Runners are doing with the state government to address the need that is in the community. We are also working with the local government sector, which is important.

Whether you talk to people on the ground who are operating in our primary production sector across the state or whether you are reading a brief on the matter, it's impossible for the severity of the circumstances, and the need that is clearly there, not to jump off the page at you. As a government we have responded to that. We did that at the very end of last year, and we stand ready to do that again. If we can do that in way that is expedited in advance of the budget but in the context of the budget, then we will obviously grab that opportunity.