David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lyne for his question. I acknowledge the fact that his electorate had that intersection of drought and fire. I thank him for his support. I acknowledge the work all members have done.

Let me say that, while there has quite rightly been considerable attention on COVID-19 and our response to COVID-19, this government has never lost focus on those lives that were impacted not just by a drought that's been going on for some eight years but also by the bushfires of this summer and the floods of north-western Queensland, where nearly 500,000 head were lost in a matter of 24 to 48 hours. That's why we will continue to make sure that those programs that we as a government have rolled out and continue to roll out make a difference.

With respect to drought, over $10 billion has been committed to supporting the farmers get through the drought and get back up, and to support agriculture being able to increase production from $60 billion to $65 billion. That was through $310 million in direct payments to let them put their bread and butter on their table every fortnight.

Mr Burns interjecting—

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