Tuesday, 17 June 2025

Drought

Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (19:05): (1183) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Agriculture, and the action I seek is immediate financial and practical drought relief for farmers across the Mallee, who are facing one of the most challenging seasons in recent memory. The Mallee is dry, always has been, but this year it is a different kind of dry. Rainfall is well below average, despite the 10 to 15 millimetres we got a couple of weeks ago, which I know has been defined as ‘enormous’ by some but is barely enough to wet the ground in some places. The subsoil moisture is vanishing despite the evolution in agriculture and farming practices, and the costs of feed and water are skyrocketing and will continue to do so. Farmers are destocking, only just bringing lambs back in a couple of seasons ago; delaying planting decisions and questioning whether what they have planted and sowed will actually come up; and they are questioning how they will get through the next few months, let alone the season.

In towns like Ouyen, Manangatang, Walpeup and Underbool, the heart of the dryland farming community, and Patchewollock as well, who are also facing the very real onslaught of wild dogs given the removal of the non-protection order, families are under enormous pressure, and yet there has been deafening silence from this government. For those farming in the Mallee we need targeted support, not more bureaucracy, not more layers of bureaucracy and not things to droughtproof farms for the future. We need relief now, like emergency financial assistance for primary producers experiencing severe crop and stock losses; rate relief, given their rates can be into the tens and hundreds of thousands and are only going to get worse; freight subsidies for fodder and water; mental health outreach for isolated farmers doing it tough – we have some of the most isolated farmers in this state; and a simplified process for accessing support, not more hoops to jump through and not on a dollar-for-dollar basis that counts an incredible amount of farmers out.

These are not just numbers on a spreadsheet. These are people. These are families. These are farmers growing the food and fibre that feed and clothe this state. They clothe this nation. They feed the world. They do not ask for much. They never do. There is no-one more resilient than a Mallee farmer, but right now they just need a hand up – not a handout, just a hand up – until the seasons turn. That is all we are asking for. So I urge you, Minister, please, some relief for farmers in the Mallee, and please come and visit. See it for yourself.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I remind the member that ‘you’ refers to the Chair.