Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Grey for his question and I thank him for his ongoing interest, and I thank all members of this House who have a keen interest in what's happening in our rural and regional communities across Australia. The drought summit I convened last year brought together Australians from right across our country—premiers, chief ministers, farmers, those involved in the charitable sector, scientists and others involved in the Bureau of Meteorology. All of these organisations came together and we fashioned a plan, together with the National Farmers Federation, to respond to one of the worst droughts this country has ever seen. In some particular areas, it is the most severe drought we have ever seen in this country. That comprehensive drought fund and that response, which is now some $7 billion and more over the next decade, has been designed not as a set-and-forget policy but as one that requires us to constantly listen and constantly respond to the ongoing pressures that we are seeing as this drought rolls on, which, in some areas, particularly in Queensland, has been running for more than seven years.

Most recently, since we were last in this place, the government made three important announcements. The first was to further streamline how the farm household allowance was working at a cost of some $60 million to make it more accessible for people and, particularly, to take into account the off-farm income they were earning and their capital off-farm, which enabled them to continue to be supported. For four years, that will mean more than a hundred thousand dollars being paid into each of these farm households to ensure that they're getting that support. Secondly, there was also additional support for additional shires and additional council areas, which is making a big difference in those communities.

Thirdly, yesterday, with the Deputy Prime Minister, the member for New England and the Premier and the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, we committed our half to a billion dollar investment in two important dam infrastructure projects in New South Wales in both the member's electorate in New England and in central west New South Wales. These are important infrastructure projects, and we're able to get on with them with the additional investment that we're putting in because of the cooperation we have from the New South Wales government which is prepared not only to put the money in but to blast away the congestion-busting bureaucracy that stops the projects from proceeding. I commend the New South Wales Premier for doing that.

Our plan for dealing with drought is to ensure we're providing that assistance to farming communities where they need it right now: on their properties. Secondly, we're supporting those drought affected communities with our payments to councils to ensure their economies continue to move on and ensure we're building that long-term resilience, whether it's through investing in big dam infrastructure or the on-farm infrastructure that they need that they're investing in themselves. We will not move away from our great support of our farming communities. (Time expired)

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