Drought Assistance

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:23): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Primary Industries on the topic of drought.

Leave granted.

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: The minister, in response to a recent media inquiry on the drought, in fact as recent as this weekend has said:

The State Government continues to monitor the situation and will determine further drought support where appropriate.

My questions to the minister are:

1. What data is the minister collecting and tracking to monitor the situation?

2. How is she evaluating the dire drought situation across all regional areas?

3. What are the factors that will determine whether further drought support is needed?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:24): I thank the honourable member for her question. The monitoring involves a number of different aspects: the first is the uptake of the assistance that is available. I might point out that there has been a huge response to the opportunity to apply for the on-farm water infrastructure grants. We have had a very strong level of interest, and the team within PIRSA that has been assessing those grant applications and drought assistance has doubled because of the strong interest. That clearly indicates that it is the type of assistance that will be useful for our farming communities.

In addition to the various drought round tables there is an ongoing drought advisory group, which includes peak bodies as well as departmental personnel, and they are providing frequent and consistent input into what things are like out on the ground and what additional assistance might be appropriate. In addition to that, I meet, as I said in the answer to the previous question, with farmers directly, as well as with various organisations, with regional councils, and so on. All of that information, as well as that which is gathered directly via PIRSA (for example, from their regional coordinators or regional managers) and all of the intel that is gathered on ground, feeds into these deliberations.