Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Drought—it is a word that conjures up all the negative thoughts about farming. It affects us all in some ways because, without water, our food cannot be grown. If we do not grow food, we will have to import it, and that becomes expensive and nonsensical. Those on the land have to deal with the heartbreak of seeing their stock founder and their land turn to dust. And that dust pervades everything. It seeps under doors, through houses and into everything that you are doing. It saps the spirit along with the skin, and hope goes out the window. It is as if nobody cares.

Many do not understand that we have drought in Tasmania, yet driving around the Midlands and the east coast anytime last year or this year you got the feeling that you were in another land. Even when a little winter rain starts greening up the surface, the ground is hard and unforgiving and water runs off the land rapidly into channels and out to sea. Practically, how can we help? The state government in Tasmania has started the process of recycling the water being used by our electricity generator and piping it to the worst spots. The use of water is now being audited and it is becoming a valued commodity. This is happening, and I congratulate the state government for developing a water strategy for the state. I urge everyone to support the emergency supplies and the development of the new schemes. We do have a lot of water in Tasmania, but it is in the wrong places.

But how do you help heal the spirits of those whose livelihoods have been drained away? This question has been taxing the thoughts of those in the Southern Midlands, who are having to cope in one of the most stressed areas in Tasmania. One man has taken up the cause with a vengeance. A successful farmer living just out of Kempton, John Jones, whose family have farmed there for generations, is a councillor on the Southern Midlands Council. He has experienced firsthand the depression that has settled on his community and he has fought to get recognition for practical help for many farmers who are suffering through these drought years. In the last couple of months, John has wrangled, begged, fought for and found funding from a multitude of sources for a locally developed suicide prevention initiative, Rural Alive And Well Tasmania. John says we all have to show that we care and understand the problems communities face.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of launching the program, based at Oatlands, on behalf of the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon. I announced the allocation of $216,000 for the employment of a project worker and administrative support for an initial 12 months. This is part of the federal government’s initiative to assist local communities to develop their own local solutions to the serious issues that suicide presents for individuals, their families and the community. Yesterday was a great day.

The Australian government has joined with the Tasmanian government, farmers and community groups to put together this package. The program will draw upon the experience of the other national suicide prevention strategies providing services aimed at helping to prevent suicide, with their main focus being on males, by strengthening community capacity in areas of need. Although this program has only been running since July this year, it has already made a significant impact, and my belief is that it will be a model for other such services around Australia to deal with the soul-destroying feeling of uselessness that people experience when the country is in drought—uselessness that leads to depression and then to the risk of self-harm.

I know the government is committed to consulting widely, including with consumers and carer representatives. I also know we must ensure that an adequate workforce is on hand to help. There are other good programs too that will help address the real illness of depression. But, to get help to people, it must somehow be recognised that men in particular do not find it easy to ask for help. The program in the Southern Midlands is actively going out to seek those who need help—without scaring them further. It will have a mature male worker who will be able to spend time talking over the farm fence and taking help into homes. I believe this program will require ongoing funding to continue the task started and also to spread areas of practical help, including helping those on the land to find alternative land uses when their traditional land use has become unviable. This is where health issues overlap with training and research issues. This is merely helping people to once again become valued members of the community, with positive directions for the future. I am very pleased that both the state and federal governments have now recognised the very deep problems of drought and what it can do to communities. (Time expired)

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Obviously the member for Lyons has a large heart for his community. The issues raised by the member for Lyons highlight the difficulties being faced by farming and rural communities around Australia. Speaking in support of this motion, the member for Lyons detailed the response to a particular situation in his Tasmanian electorate. It would no doubt come as a surprise to many Australians not familiar with Tasmania’s Central Highlands that it could be affected by the dry conditions that have had such a devastating impact on other parts of rural Australia. The same could be said of the West Gippsland region of Victoria, which is encompassed by my electorate of McMillan. This is an area known historically for its temperate climate, lush vegetation and the reliability of its rainfall—conditions that have proved ideal for the development of one of Australia’s premier dairying districts. But, as in the electorate of Lyons, an extended drought saw farmers in my electorate last year faced with the previously unheard of situation of having to pay up to $200 a day to transport water to their stock. Mostly self-sufficient in fodder, dairy farmers in McMillan also had to compete with other drought affected regions for hay and saw their fodder budgets quadruple.

A decade ago it would have been considered impossible for West Gippsland to qualify for exceptional circumstances drought relief, yet that was the situation we found ourselves in. The experience of the electorates of Lyons and McMillan illustrate just how serious the water supply situation is in most areas of rural Australia. It tells us the face of agriculture will have to change if we are to meet the challenge of a future in which some experts tell us we will have to live with more and longer dry spells.

Australian farmers have demonstrated in the past that they are able and willing to adapt and innovate to increase their efficiency and productivity. One of the examples of that I am most familiar with is the dairying industry. Less than 40 years ago there were 60,000 dairy farmers in Australia, milking an average of 22 cows. Today there are around 6,000 dairy farmers and the average herd is 300 cows. They produce an additional two billion litres of milk annually, while milking one million fewer cows. Education and training will be even more important to the farmers of the future, with large operations more likely to be employing pasture managers or irrigation managers.

As has been demonstrated in the seat of Lyons and in McMillan the management of water resource will be vital and will involve the farming community, governments and communities. Governments also will have to re-evaluate how they will respond to the possibility of longer and more frequent drought conditions. They will need to revise the guidelines for exceptional circumstances and other drought relief measures to redress inequities in the system as well as the level of support that can be sustainably provided, whether it be income support or interest rate subsidies. The management of water resource is going to be the major challenge confronting us as we enter an era of climatic uncertainty, and it is a challenge for which we must prepare now.

The people in the electorate of the member for Lyons have suffered a green drought and we have suffered a green drought. Others will come through our communities and say, ‘But look at the place; it’s green.’ They do not understand the instability and the vulnerability of the people within the area. Second, the member for Lyons called for help for those who are dealing with a wounded spirit. It is a community with a wounded spirit that has been caused by drought and by the suffering that that has caused families. The member for Lyons told a story about the activity within a community of John Jones. His story would be repeated across this great south land from Western Australia to Tasmania and all the way to the tip of Cape York. There are people just like that man who actually go out of their way on behalf of their communities to make sure that they receive the benefits that government can give to them.

There is just one thing we cannot do. There is one thing no government can do. It can only be done by a community that is alive and aware to an individual situation. It is this. If you are doing it hard, either financially or emotionally, get help. Somewhere, somebody is there to help you. There are hotlines, there are people available, and we say to you, ‘Get help early.’ The response from government, and from all those involved, to the drought in Tasmania to my thinking has been exceptional. Whether it is the fly fisherman the other day who was worried about turbulence, the pipeline they want to put in for new irrigation, desalination, recycling or water efficiencies, they are all things we ourselves are going to have to address coming into this next season.

Jodie Campbell (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank my parliamentary colleague the member for Lyons for raising this important issue, and I was more than happy to second his private member’s motion. Some in this House may well be surprised to learn of the dire situation of many farmers in my home state of Tasmania. While Tasmania may generally be associated with lush landscapes, the reality unfortunately could not be further from the truth. In my electorate of Bass farmers in the north-east and on Flinders Island are particularly affected. They have been forced to ship stock to the mainland of Tasmania, as there is simply no longer enough feed on the island. This is quite simply the worst drought on record. It has been going and getting progressively worse since 2005, and farmers are now looking at yet another dry summer on the back of yet another failed spring. Even the largest and formerly most productive farms are running out of feed and grain.

I have spoken with the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association and what they are reporting is frightening, disturbing and, frankly, quite heartbreaking. The TFGA estimates that more than 2½ thousand workers have left the rural sector. Businesses across the state and in all sized communities are suffering. The association is aware of suicides and schools are reporting behaviour from students which is uncharacteristic, and that is being attributed to the pressure and stress that farming families are suffering. Mothers are no longer going to parent-teacher nights because they simply cannot face them.

As we look to summer, things are only becoming worse. This is the time when farmers build stockpiles for the winter but they can barely feed the stock they have now, let alone consider looking to the future. There is nothing for them to stockpile.

I can inform the House that there are two declared exceptional circumstances areas in Tasmania. These cover 48.7 per cent of Tasmania’s agricultural land—almost half. The Australian government has provided more than $3½ million in income support payments to 490 Tasmanian farm families and small business owners and a further $4.7 million in interest rate subsidies to over 174 farmers and small business operators in Tasmania.

The National Rural Advisory Council has already commenced its reviews of the Tasmanian EC areas as part of the review of 52 EC areas that are due to expire at the end of March. As part of its review NRAC consider advice from a number of sources, including state departments, the Bureau of Rural Sciences, the Bureau of Meteorology, landholders and agricultural and business consultants. As part of this process they may also visit areas.

I am informed by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry that the council will visit Flinders Island in December. I can inform the House that this news was welcomed by farmers and landowners on Flinders Island. I was on the island last week and there is a growing sense of desperation. Nothing has changed; there has been no rain and farmers and their families are struggling. I was pleased also to inform the community of a commitment given to me by the agriculture minister, the Hon. Tony Burke, that he would visit the island. I thank him for that commitment and his commitment to the people of Flinders Island. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage the state Minister for Primary Industries and Water, Minister Llewellyn, to visit Flinders Island so that he too can experience firsthand the challenges the island faces.

The government aims to announce extensions and cessations well before the expiry date, giving producers plenty of time to make decisions for their farms. There is, as I said, a growing sense of desperation within Tasmania’s farming community. There is also, I believe it is fair to say, a realisation that this is perhaps the way of the future, that climate change has indeed changed how we farm in my home state. I would encourage that approach. On this side of the House we are all too aware that climate change is real. It is a threat to our entire way of life, particularly life on the land. This is in stark contrast to those opposite, who for so long denied the threat of global warming, denied the existence of climate change and, in the process, held back the wider community’s efforts to adapt. In the meantime, however, it is imperative that governments of all levels do whatever is necessary to support our farmers and the communities which they support.

As at the beginning of August, the Tasmanian and federal government had invested around $4 million in the provision of interest rate subsidy payments to 125 farming businesses under the exceptional circumstances interest rate subsidy. As I mentioned previously, the National Rural Advisory Council will be undertaking a review of the exceptional circumstances declarations later this year to determine whether there is a need for the program to continue beyond the second round. There is a very clear need for that to occur; nothing has changed—it has not rained and farmers and communities can little afford to wait. The Tasmanian government has ongoing water projects and I congratulate it for that. It should be noted, however, that water development is a long-term industry development with many projects some four to six years away. I, like the TFGA, welcome these initiatives but note that farmers need assistance now.

David Hawker (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to join in this debate, and I commend the member for Lyons for bringing this motion to the House. I too represent part of regional Australia—in western Victoria—and, like my good friend and colleague the member for McMillan and like the member for Bass and the member for Lyons, I am only too well aware what the drought has been doing. This year in the northern part of my electorate it continues to cause considerable problems and many grain growers are looking at heartache yet again. It has not just happened over one year; it has been going on for several years now. It is not just the dry years. It does cause immense difficulties. The points that the member for Lyons and the member for McMillan have raised about the impact on individuals and the need for individuals to know that there is someone who can help cannot be overemphasised. We really do have to try as hard as we can to communicate with people on those issues.

I was fortunate enough to visit the Midlands of Tasmania on 8 October, so I saw firsthand some of the issues that the member for Lyons mentioned. I had the opportunity to speak with some of the local farmers of the Clyde River Water Group at Bothwell, in the member’s electorate. We had quite a few there who raised many concerns. They were very worried about what was happening and in some ways they were very frustrated. They did draw attention to a couple of issues. One of them was the fact that there is water up the river at Lake Sorrell and they were having a problem in trying to get agreement to release, as they put it to me, just 20 millimetres off the level of Lake Sorrell to provide sufficient water to get their irrigation going.

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Millimetres?

David Hawker (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, millimetres—very little. They said that that would be enough. But of course there was an argument going on and the people who were opposing the most were in fact the angling lobby. I think that may say something about the difficulties that farming faces these days when the angling lobby apparently can get the ear of the minister as much as the farming communities.

The other point that came through—and I think this one really does have to be emphasised, although I recognise that the minister for agriculture at the federal level, and indeed probably at the state level, has been very conscious of what he can do—is that there have been some real frustrations with the federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Talking about this water from Lake Sorrell: the application was put in prior to the last federal election and obviously came across the new minister’s table very quickly. It took him six months to say that, no, he could not do it. You can imagine the level of frustration at this delay. Then it got worse, because the opportunity under the EPBC Act to get an extension to consider this had fallen out. The minister then said that he really did not have to look at it anymore, because the time had expired with regard to the application that had gone in. This really does show that colleagues opposite have got to work a bit harder on the federal minister for the environment. I do not think that he is quite conscious of the real desire of some of the people in that region.

I think that the other points that have been raised are very important and, again, I would like to revisit the views that the member for Lyons and the member for McMillan have talked about regarding the effect on individuals. I think that we have all seen what this drought has done to families and, tragically, what it has done to some individuals. We can only continue to try and emphasise the need and the local support that is there in many forms.

I would just like to take exception to another point, one that the member for Bass raised: that some people are denying climate change. I think there is evidence to show that as far as we can go back, for at least 600,000 years, climate change has been normal. We have seen times when we got wetter; we have seen times when we got drier; we have seen times when we got warmer; we have seen times when we got colder—things have not changed. So what we are looking at right now is part of an ongoing series of cycles. Yes, what the drought is doing to individuals is devastating, and who knows what the future holds? Some people are making some pretty wild predictions, but now they are already saying that their predictions have been wrong and that it is going to get worse. That tells you that the models have got a bit to answer for. But in the short time that I have left to conclude I again say that this is a very important issue. I think that it is very important that it has been raised here and I hope that the wider community and the people in the senior echelons of government will take this on board and realise that we will have to do more.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the motion put forward by my Tasmanian colleague the member for Lyons. I acknowledge the points that he has made in the motion and in the House today. This month the Bureau of Meteorology reported that parts of Australia have experienced the longest, hottest drought on record. In fact, the words used to describe the situation by the bureau were ‘very severe and without historical precedent’.

The drought that the bureau is referring to is now in its 12th year and Tasmania has not been immune to its devastating effects. The Bureau of Meteorology data shows a record 12th year of low rainfall over most of northern and north-eastern Tasmania. The temperatures are generally higher now, by around one degree. The impact on water supplies is much greater than for any other previous long-term dry period. So far in 2008 it has been especially dry in eastern Tasmania. Three-year rainfalls are now at record low levels in numerous locations. In the seat of Franklin many areas have experienced drier than average conditions, and rain gauges at Hobart airport, Dover and Grove have registered below-average rainfall for what can only be described as a very long time. It is in fact the driest 12-year period on record.

You only have to compare annual rainfall figures to understand just how dire the situation is. In 1996, a small town in the south of Tasmania called Dover recorded an annual rainfall figure of 1,071.8 millimetres. In 2007, its annual rainfall fell to 761.4 millimetres, but this year to date Dover’s rainfall is yet to reach 500 millimetres. This is in what is normally a pristine, green area of Tasmania. The Huon Valley and southern Franklin are usually the most green and lush of Australia’s temperate agriculture districts, but even the Huon has not escaped the drought. For the first time in many years, most farm dams are not full and many have not had inflow over winter. Rainfall for the past 12 months has been at least 20 per cent below the average in most of north and north-eastern Tasmania. Unfortunately, the bureau predicts that there are no rain clouds on the horizon. Drought is set to continue across areas of Tasmania with the bureau predicting a 30 to 40 per cent drop below the average rainfall as we head towards the end of 2008.

This prolonged drought has had a devastating effect on the many farming communities around Tasmania who are facing difficult times. Even local residents are having to buy water to fill their tanks, having previously relied on rainwater to do this for them. Many eyebrows are raised in amazement when people are confronted by how dry Tasmania is. In fact, Hobart is the second driest Australian capital city and this year it is the driest. With the continuing drought and substantially hotter temperatures across the state, you can understand why people are so concerned. With drought comes a myriad of issues—the social, the financial and the economic—and, sadly, in many instances, there is an impact on the physical and mental condition of those who endure such bleak times. This is why governments play such an important role in ensuring that communities are supported and why governments need to step up and become problem solvers on issues of water and climate change.

I know the Tasmanian state government is working hard to ensure that water continues to flow to areas that have been affected by the severe lack of rainfall. Direct cash assistance to farmers has been provided for feed and water to sustain essential breeding stock. So too an exceptional circumstances interest rates subsidy program has been implemented.

The Rudd government is also cognisant of the need to secure a long-term water supply for all Australians. A national plan has been developed to adapt our usage of water to ensure we use this precious asset in a smarter way. With climate change, the long-term drought already affecting many parts of Tasmania means that every drop of water counts. As rainfall decreases, it means we have to take a pragmatic approach and look at new ways of conserving our water. In my electorate of Franklin a new water scheme has been established. We announced it in the lead-up to the election campaign and stage 1 of the south-east Tasmania recycled water scheme will give the Coal River district access to additional water.

The $10.5 million contribution by the Rudd government is to allow many small to medium sized irrigators to take advantage of increased recycled water supplies, replacing the mains water with reclaimed, recycled water. If we are not collecting water from rainfall as we used to, then we need to look at new ways of conserving our water. This is one way governments can play an active role. It is a complex issue that needs action but we must also act on the catalyst of climate change. I take the opportunity to thank the member for Lyons for bringing this important motion to the forefront of our minds. We must, as a priority, continue to act responsibly in light of this most severe and brutal drought. I commend the motion to the House.

John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the member of parliament with the most drought affected electorate in the whole country, drought is something I am only too distressingly familiar with, as obviously are my constituents. I very much sympathise with the Tasmanian farmers and all our colleagues, be they farmers or otherwise. Drought is very much an insidious creature and it does not discriminate between people. Certainly, New South Wales has had a bigger share of it than most and Western Australia has its bad times but is significantly blessed in wheat areas for it.

In Tasmania, facing the loss of their sixth growing season, rainfall figures are on average one-third of the usual levels and despite the green appearance many paddocks have no growth. I recently heard it rained more in the desert than in parts of Tasmania in the winter just gone. Stocking rates are down to 40 per cent, wool cuts are halved and lambing percentages are down by 60 per cent.

Unlike other states, the Tasmanian government seems to have no drought policy prepared, certainly not for the current, ongoing drought situation in Tasmania. In its budget recently, there was no allocation for drought assistance. Requests for anything extra will obviously require time and delaying cabinet approval. I am somewhat surprised the member for Lyons moved this motion congratulating the state Labor government—although, following what happened in New South Wales over the weekend, I am not surprised he is trying to paint the Tasmanian Labor government in a good light, but drought wise I do not think there is a lot to paint them for.

The TFGA, the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, with whom I have had a long association, put it succinctly last month:

TFGA drought and climate change manager Nick Flittner said the strategy—

the strategy that was needed—

would avoid the uncoordinated and ad hoc approach to drought management that had been the hallmark of the handling of the current drought.

The acting general manager, Chris Oldfield, said:

The State Government clearly has struggled with this current drought …

It sounds horribly similar to the New South Wales Labor government, who, quite frankly, skite about what they have done in drought, whereas the federal government—our, previous one and the current one—have put more into two shires in my electorate, I think, than the state government has put into the entire state as far as drought assistance goes. So it seems to me that, while drought was once totally a state issue, now the states, particularly New South Wales—and obviously Tasmania is not going to go broke over it—seem to be ducking out of it. The New South Wales government has been so arrogant that it has allowed irrigators to pay all the charges for water which they cannot deliver. However, it will let them put it off for a year or so if they pay 13 per cent interest—and the government said that three years ago, when interest was about eight per cent. I would urge the member for Bass, who spoke earlier in this debate, to read the TFGA’s media release and to think through a strategy which might help the farmers in that state.

They say that adversity breeds kindness, and I have seen many acts of generosity during the six or seven years of drought in my electorate. Rotary and the CWA have been towers of strength. They give enormous support to rural communities. In fact, I recall that we asked the CWA to allocate nearly $10 million in New South Wales, probably twice that amount around Australia. Organisations like that do an incredible amount to help, and they do what is not a pleasant job. I remember that, in just a week, donations to a fodder and grain drive being organised by the Rotary Club of Everdale included 100 bales of hay, eight tonnes of pallets and grain and almost $10,000 in cash. This was a group of people getting together to help farmers who were not in their part of the world. (Time expired)

Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.