Question Time

FARM FINANCE PACKAGE

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister for primary industries questions regarding the farm finance package.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Some months ago, the federal government announced a farm finance package. Among other things, it provides farmers with low-interest loans to restructure debt and to increase productivity. As part of that, the state government announced soon after that it had 'joined other states in signing a new national drought program reform agreement with the commonwealth'. The government claimed that it was working with the commonwealth to explore the details of the package.

Queensland has already signed on the dotted line, and primary producers in that state now reap the benefits and, this week, the Victorian government also signed up. So, farmers over the border from South Australia and, in fact, just over the border from where I used to live, now get the cash of up to $650,000 at 4½ per cent. Farmers in this state can't because the minister has not yet reached an agreement with the commonwealth. My questions for the minister are:

1. Why has South Australia not signed the agreement?

2. Why is it that other states have reached agreement and the minister in this state has not?

3. Has the minister personally discussed the package, in the past week, with the successful Victorian minister to see what she might learn?

4. Is the incompetent impediment in this situation the minister or her federal colleague?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:19): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. This initiative is a very positive one for our primary producers, and we are very grateful to the federal government for showing this sort of leadership and initiative. The federal government has been negotiating state-by-state. It has only just recently provided us with what I think is a copy of the guidelines and the provisions for South Australia. I can't remember exactly when we received those, but really it was only a matter of days ago, to the best of my knowledge, and so my officers are working through those documents.

As I said, we have only just received them, whereas the federal government has initiated discussions with other states on a state-by-state basis and has been slowly working around the nation. They have only really just come to South Australia. We have been participating in those discussions and believe that we should be in a position to sign off on that within the very foreseeable future. As I said, the guidelines that they have given us are only draft ones and we need to make sure that they are in the best interests of our farmers.

The good news is that we have progressed negotiations around the administrative costs. Although we have not signed off on the agreement, nevertheless we believe we have reached an agreement, which needs to be formalised, where the federal government has indicated a preparedness to provide additional funds to South Australia to cover administrative costs. They are funds that I understand, at least at this point in the discussions, will not be coming from the funds themselves.

We have done very well in our negotiations. We have been working very hard to make sure we get the best position possible for our farmers. As I said, the federal government has only just come to South Australia with these guidelines. They have been working their way around Australia state by state with negotiations, and we are doing very well out of this. Our primary concern is to make sure we get the very best deal possible for our primary producers, and we believe we are in a very strong position to do that. As I said, once we have been able to look at the details of the guidelines and assure ourselves that they are in our best interests, that will be signed off, and that will be in the very foreseeable future.