Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Makin for his efforts in trying for 10 minutes to justify the unjustifiable. It was a valiant effort. He tried to go around the subject matter as best he could, but I do not think anyone could say that in any way what the government has done here is just or is fair. The motion notes that in the 2011 budget, the Labor government announced the extension of the Exceptional Circumstances Exit Grants program as part of its drought assistance measures. Very good. Less than six weeks into the extended 52-week program, the government announced that funds had run out. The exit grant was often the only means by which some farmers could exit their farms with sufficient support to transition to a new livelihood. Many farmers who applied and were assessed as eligible for the grant proceeded to put their farms on the market and had sold their farms through exchange of contracts prior to the announcement that the funds had run out. Many of these farmers, on the basis of the exit grant support, have made financial commitments to buy alternative accommodation so they can transition to their new locality and employment. And many of these farmers who trusted the government's commitment and Centrelink's documentation approving their eligibility are now in dire financial straits with no capacity to borrow, no income and no opportunity to become re-established.

This motion calls on the government to do what they said they would do: provide the exit grant to the farmers that have sold their farms through exchange of contracts by 10 August 2011 and were eligible under the guidelines for the extra grant had funding not run out.

See this speech in context