Question Time

Drought Assistance

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): 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. N.J. CENTOFANTI: The opposition has been contacted by farmers right across the state who are frustrated and concerned that the eligibility criteria for additional relief measures are too narrow, excluding many farmers in need. Tying the eligibility of the ESL and vehicle registration rebates to the Farm Household Allowance means that only approximately 825 farm households actually qualify out of the over 9,000 agribusinesses across the state. There are also calls for no and low concessional loans for much-needed cash flow during these times—a hand up, not a handout—and cite, quite reasonably, that the current federal government RIC loans are 5.18 per cent and variable, hardly low by any stretch of the imagination.

My question to the minister is: given the clear message from farming communities that this package has missed the mark and will fall significantly short of what they need, will the minister commit to urgently reviewing the program, in consultation with farmers, to ensure that further assistance is delivered where it's genuinely needed?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:20): I thank the honourable member for her question. The additional $55 million in drought support, the package that was announced by the Premier and myself several weeks ago, was developed in consultation with farmers and with peak industry bodies, and with regional councils and other regional stakeholders. We have had very positive feedback in regard to the package because it does address so many of the different and varied needs that were raised throughout the various consultation forums including, of course, the meeting with the Premier—the round table that we had with the Premier, with farmers and with peak bodies.

The particular things that have been referred to by the honourable member—ESL and a further reduction on commercial registration fees—can be accessed and used through, for example, the $1,500 grant that people can access through Rural Business Support. Roughly 10 per cent, based on the numbers that the honourable member alluded to, will be eligible through the Farm Household Allowance because they are recipients of that and may well be eligible. But if farmers are not recipients of the Farm Household Allowance, they can apply through RBS for the $1,500 grants, which of course could be used to pay ESL or for registration of commercial vehicles.

In addition to that, of course, there are many other strands that have been addressed through this drought support package. That includes extending the very successful Connecting Communities grants. I was pleased to see some of the coverage, just at the weekend, I think it was 'dancing in the dust', I am not sure if that is quite the right name but very similar to that, which was one of the activities that has been enabled through the regional Connecting Communities grants.

In addition to that, there are a number of other matters that I mentioned earlier in the week when I outlined the various aspects of this $55 million extension to the drought program, bringing it to a total of $73 million.