Drought Assistance

The Hon. B.R. HOOD (14:56): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding drought assistance.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.R. HOOD: The opposition has been informed by numerous stakeholders that there is a concerning lack of coordination within PIRSA regarding the rollout of announced drought assistance measures. Hay run charities, instead of operating through a centralised register, are being forced to liaise individually with hundreds of farmers across the state. Furthermore, the recently announced fuel rebate for livestock feed deliveries has been set at $4.50 per kilometre for a semitrailer load, a figure that transport operators have advised is entirely unviable, leaving volunteer drivers and charitable organisations financially exposed. My questions to the minister are as follows:

1. How did the minister, in conjunction with the Treasurer and Premier, arrive at the reimbursement rate that industry operators are saying is unworkable and which risks leaving volunteer drivers and charities significantly out of pocket?

2. Will the minister commit to urgently reviewing and adjusting the per kilometre rebate to ensure it reflects actual transport costs, thereby enabling critical hay deliveries to continue without imposing an unfair financial burden on volunteer drivers or the charitable organisations coordinating this vital support?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:58): I thank the honourable member for his question; however, the way he has phrased it is not reflective of the situation. First of all, the charities—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN: Perhaps, if those opposite don't want to hear an answer to a question, they shouldn't ask it. First of all, the Donated Fodder Transport Drought Assistance Scheme was extended from $2 million to $6 million in the recently announced extension, to a total of $73 million for the drought package. To date, the scheme has supported more than 458 primary producers, with 4,433 tonnes of fodder across five regions of the state. They were the figures as of couple of weeks ago.

During the first phase of the drought assistance package, we received various feedback from farmers, from the charities themselves and from industry in regard to how we could make that transport subsidy scheme deliver more and better. On 29 April, PIRSA met with participating charities to discuss amendments to the guidelines so that support could be more targeted, that there could be a higher assurance that fodder delivered is of good quality and to review the reimbursement rate per kilometre. As result of these discussions, five organisations said at that time they would participate in the scheme. I am advised that charities received their varied contracts on 1 May.

My advice is that the reimbursement rate was proposed by the charities themselves, not proposed by government. The rates proposed were $4.50 per kilometre for a single trailer, $7.50 per kilometre for a B-double and $9 per kilometre for a road train. Remember that this is not simply the cost of diesel. People think about the cost of diesel—it would be far less than that. Of course, it is providing a subsidy far more than the diesel costs. A number of charities do not have volunteer drivers. They pay their drivers, and all of that was put into the discussions around what the rates should be. Government has been working closely with the charities on this.

The existing agreements have simply been varied to cover the upcoming runs under the amended guidelines, and coordination, I think, is always going to be appropriate. We don't want to have, for example, three runs to one area and other areas, therefore, missing out. The charities have in the past always operated, as according to my advice and discussions I have had with the charities, by farmers contacting them directly. To my knowledge, none of them have asked that that should change. They work on the sorts of models that they always have. Charities that have said that they are participating have indicated that their figures here are appropriate, which is presumably why they proposed them.