Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Natural disasters come in many forms, and they test communities, but the relentless and ongoing nature of drought makes it one of the most testing on individuals and communities. If you're hit by a bushfire, a flood or a cyclone, the damage may be tremendous, but you get up the next day and you deal with it. But drought is different. It goes on and on, day after day, week after week, month after month and, regrettably, sometimes year after year. The clouds come and the clouds go, and there is still no meaningful rain. This sort of situation tests the strength of individuals and the resilience of communities. My electorate, to this point, has largely been spared the worst of the drought, but the lack of rain is now certainly starting to have an impact on the farming sector.

There have been a range of measures from my electorate to assist the more drought-stricken areas, those areas hardest hit. These include efforts I have brought to the attention of this House, such as the Macleay Hay Run, which was organised by Josh and Shelly Ball, a very great measure by the Macleay Valley people to support drought-stricken farmers. And Park Beach Bowls Club, the Nambucca RSL and the Pier Hotel have made significant contributions to the drought effort.

The government is assisting farmers through a range of measures involving direct assistance and low-interest loans, with the latest rounds of support bringing the value of the Commonwealth's assistance to around $1.8 billion. Last month the coalition announced $190 million in measures, including a boost to the Farm Household Allowance package of an additional $12,000 per couple, bringing a year's assistance to some $37,000. Thousands more families will be able to access assistance, with the net asset threshold cap increasing from $2.6 million to $5 million. There are also additional resources being provided to the Rural Financial Counselling Service and increased funding for mental health and wellbeing support, so very important as a result of the relentless, ongoing nature of the drought, which tests individual so much. In addition, there are new taxation measures to assist with investment in grain storage.

But I'd like to also comment on the impact of the dry conditions on my electorate—in particular, on the dairy industry. My local dairy farmers are caught in a vice-like grip of low prices on the one hand and increased cost of inputs on the other. I've recently spoken to a number of dairy farmers who have expressed concern as to the long-term viability of the industry on the mid-north coast. The dry conditions have meant significant increases in the amount of feeding required for herds, and also the drought has meant that the cost of feed has increased from around $300 to $350 a tonne up to around $600 a tonne. It's a massive impost on these farmers at a time when revenue is not as strong as it needs to be.

On the revenue side, the industry is being battered by dollar milk, putting incredible pressure on efficient, long-term producers in my region. It seems a commercial injustice that you can go into a supermarket and it will ask you for around $1 for a litre of milk, and yet that same supermarket will charge you twice as much for a litre of water! It seems to make no sense at all, and it is having a massive impact on our local industry. If we value the presence of this industry in areas outside Victoria, then the long-term sustainability of the dairy industry and, in particular, the marketing phenomenon of dollar milk need to be addressed. A number of farmers in the industry have advised me that their families have been in the industry for generations and yet they are currently operating at a loss of around $100,000 a year. That's around 10 per cent of their turnover. That is clearly unsustainable in the long term.

The impact of the drought is not limited to the dairy sector in my electorate. It is having an impact on the beef sector. It's having an impact on horticulture. It is hitting these sectors quite hard. I commend the generosity of the people in my electorate for the great work that they have done in assisting areas that are more hard-hit than we are in the electorate of Cowper. These community efforts complement the work done by the government, but also, very importantly, send a strong signal to those hard-hit areas that there are other Australians out there who care. I certainly commend the efforts of these communities in assisting hard-hit communities and I commend the efforts of the government to assist in what is a massive disaster.

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