A charity worker helping drought-stricken farmers has broken down during an emotional confrontation with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in regional New South Wales.
Mr Turnbull comforted Edwina Robertson in the town of Trangie, west of Dubbo, as she spoke about dire conditions and hardship in many farming communities.
“It’s worse than anything you are seeing in the media, it’s far worse,” Ms Robertson told the Prime Minister.
“It’s dire. I worry every day when I go to visit farming families that it’s going to be hours too late, it’s literally that bad.”
Mr Turnbull has today promised to do more to help those under intense financial strain due to relentless drought conditions, signing off on emergency “special” payments for eligible farmers, to be made through the Farm Household Allowance (FHA) scheme.
Currently, those on the FHA scheme can access a payment equivalent to the unemployment benefit, worth about $16,000 a year.
Today’s announcement will provide households up to $12,000 in additional lump-sum payments for couples. Single households will get $7,200.
The first payment will be made on the first day of next month. The second payment would be made on March 1, next year.
Today’s package will also include extra funding for mental health support, and is costing $190 million in total.
The latest announcement brings the Government’s spending on drought measures to $576 million.
‘It is a shocking drought’, PM says
Mr Turnbull said the drought was the worst in many decades and the cash payments would help provide some relief to families.
In recent years federal policy has been focused on “drought proofing” and preparedness for dry periods.
Federal assistance, apart from the basic unemployment payment, has been offered on the basis of loans rather than subsidies or cash payments.
But the Government’s statement on the new changes says the current dry period is “one of the worst droughts of the past century”.
Some farmers say their own rainfall records show this dry spell is unprecedented.
“It is a shocking drought,” Mr Turnbull said in Trangie.
“It appears that we are going into a dry spring and a tough summer.
“We hope the forecasts are proved wrong, but the prospects are not great at the moment.”
The Government says the money can be used for basic household expenses, and will flow through to regional communities.
The Commonwealth has already extended the time period to receive the FHA from three to four years.
After consulting with farming groups, the eligibility criteria for accessing the FHA will also be relaxed so people with up to $5 million net assets will still be able to apply. Previously the cut-off was $2.6 million.
“This will help farmers, who may be notionally asset rich but cash poor, access additional support without having to jeopardise the income-producing capacity of their farm by selling farm equipment,” the statement said. ABC News
