Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I do not want to hold up the business of the House; I will be as quick as possible and I think I will have covered all the ground that I can. The opposition does not seem to understand that this is not an extension of a previous measure. This is a different measure. Quite simply, it will work because it is a tried and true method that is currently operating for farmers, and I gave the figures of assistance that the government has given to farmers under exceptional circumstances in my earlier summing-up. There is no connection with the previous measure. As a local member I felt, when that measure was there, that perhaps we could have achieved more with it. But that is not the measure that is being discussed before the House today, so there is no point in making comparisons.

The member for Lingiari asked how many businesses we estimate will be eligible. I can let him know that the figure we estimate is 5,440. I am not hung up on estimates about how many people might be eligible. I am confident that, with the figures I made available before, of who has already been helped, that is actually quite significant. The program has only been open since November last year and we are still in the stage with rural financial counselling services of promulgating it and making small businesses aware of it. What we are saying and what Centrelink is saying with its drought bus and all of the information it is trying to get into rural communities is: ‘Don’t sit at home and try and work out whether you might be entitled to assistance. Come forward.’ I think a 69 per cent success rate is a good success rate under any terms, but the people who are not successful are those who clearly do not meet the guidelines.

The member for Lingiari was again being critical and being picky about a definition of what is and is not a small business and whether 100 employees under an ABS description is small or medium. That does not matter to me in the administration of programs that help farmers. What matters to me is that farmers who are eligible under the guidelines that we have carefully put in place come forward and get help. We are not saying that if you have a business with 100 employees and doing very nicely you will get help because, hey, we have got a line there that says if you have got 100 employees you are entitled to help. You also have to pass significant income and assets tests, like any farmer, and if you do not pass those tests then you do not get any help. So can I say to the opposition: I do not really understand the philosophy behind your amendment and it is fairly meaningless in the context of this government providing assistance for drought relief because, as you have pretty well admitted yourselves, it will actually make no difference to how the measure you have already undertaken to support is rolled out in rural communities. I thank the House.

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