Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Drought relief

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:34): (1594) My adjournment debate is for the Minister for Agriculture. Minister, drought conditions are impacting much of Gippsland, with local farmers fearing the worst as dry conditions stretch statewide. Paddocks are sparse with fodder, and I have been contacted by a number of local farmers concerned about their livestock and their livelihoods. The mental health of primary producers is of the utmost concern as financial pressures mount, and yet the Allan Labor government is overwhelmingly ignoring our farmers’ plea for assistance. Instead of providing real relief, Labor has committed to $60 million less than the South Australian government under similar conditions. Water is so critical, and soil moisture is drying up. Dams are drying up, and there is no decent rainfall in the foreseeable future.

Evidence from the BOM shows that there have been severe or serious rainfall deficiencies – and by that I mean rainfall totals in the 5 to 10 per cent periods respectively, the lowest since the 1900s – indeed across western and south-western Victoria but also parts of Gippsland. One Inverloch farmer has outlined for me today that he has been forced to destock, and in doing that he is leaving himself with virtually no cows or calves, which are the main source of his annual income. An oversupply of destock cattle is arriving at the Koonwarra saleyards, and prices are flagging. Not only are they working under hugely tough conditions, their price return is diminishing.

Every day it fails to deliver assistance Labor forces farmers to make impossible decisions to keep livestock alive. Labor has spruiked that it is firing up its desalination plant in order to water the backyards of people in Melbourne and Geelong, but it is leaving farmers high and dry. Instead of providing real drought relief to farmers, the Allan government is ramming through this emergency services tax, which will increase the tax burden on farmers once again with a 189 per cent tax increase. During a cost-of-living crisis and drought it is unthinkable that Labor is asking more from our farmers, yet again this is exactly what it is doing.

The action I call on the minister to do is to provide immediate and targeted help for drought-affected families and areas, including but not limited to subsidised fodder and feed supplies for livestock, subsidised water supply for agricultural purposes, and financial assistance with fodder and water delivery. Minister, please listen.