Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Would the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services outline to the House how the severe drought is hurting irrigators in Australia and particularly in my electorate of Riverina? How is drought impacting on the broader community and economies in the Riverina and across Australia?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Riverina for her question. Of course, the member for Riverina represents the heart of the rice-growing area of Australia and knows as well as anyone how the drought is impacting on our farmers, particularly the accessibility of a secure water supply to our irrigators. It is interesting to note that just 0.5 per cent of agricultural land in Australia is irrigated but it produces 25 per cent of total agricultural output, a lot of that coming from the member for Riverina’s electorate in the Murrumbidgee.

The drought will dramatically affect irrigation this year, including our valuable horticulture, rice and dairy production industries, because of that lack of access to secure water. In New South Wales, in the Murray, the lower Darling and Lachlan, irrigators have zero allocation. In the Murrumbidgee there is just 18 per cent at this stage of the season, so they only have access to 18 per cent of their allocation of water. Water allocations in Victoria’s food bowl in the Goulburn Valley are just 21 per cent, with only a 10 per cent chance of any increase in that at all by the end of this season. It paints a very bleak picture for the irrigators, who produce, as I said, 25 per cent of our agricultural output.

The broader community should be concerned by and aware of—and they are, across Australia—what is happening with drought and what is happening with the shortage of water. For example, people in the cities experiencing water shortages are understanding what a drought is all about. As was indicated in a press release by the National Farmers Federation, Charles Burke said it would be short-sighted to dismiss drought as just a problem for farmers. It critically impacts on our farming community, but it is an issue that the nation needs to be able to deal with.

Now—and the member for Riverina would be aware of this—our irrigators are always being blamed for the ills of our river systems, but it is not always the case. The reason that we will not be planting any rice this year is because it has not rained. The reason that the rivers are not flowing is because it has not rained. So there will be no rice crop grown because it has not rained, not because they are taking too much water out of the rivers.

As the Prime Minister has just indicated, this government has never shirked its responsibilities of standing by Australia’s farmers and supporting them in times of adversity. Since 2001 we have spent $1.2 billion assisting 53,000 Australians families. So we will continue to do our bit, but the financial institutions and the banks in Australia should also be sympathetic to the circumstances of Australia’s farmers. Today I have written to the major banks and the financial institutions asking them to be sympathetic to the problems of their farming clients and to do their best to provide help and assistance where they can during this drought, not just in the interests of agriculture or regional communities but in the interests of the nation.