Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Why does the Prime Minister claim that the government has a drought policy when the National Farmers Federation President Fiona Simson says it doesn't?

Mr McCormack interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Prime Minister will cease interjecting.

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

I thank the member for his question because it gives me a good opportunity to point out exactly what the National Farmers Federation has presented to me on these issues. The National Farmers Federation have been extremely supportive of the government's response to the drought. They said as much and directly last night at the 40th anniversary of the National Farmers Federation. I'm not sure whether the member was in attendance on that night. I thank those members from around the chamber, including those from the opposite side, who were in attendance at that event. Those who were there would know that the National Farmers Federation and President Fiona Simson were very clear about the appreciation that they had for the extensive and comprehensive response to the drought that has been provided by the government, in concert, of course, with the state and territory governments where they are affected.

The point that the National Farmers Federation have been making about the issue that they have raised is that they would like to see an agreement between all the states and territories with the Commonwealth with common standards and common triggers for the activation of state based drought response. That is what they are seeking, and that is currently not in place. After the drought summit last year we put in place a reformed national agreement on drought, which added to the original agreement, that made it very clear that states and territories were responsible for the initiatives that went directly to the welfare of animals on the farm—and that's fodder and support for the animals—and that the Commonwealth government was responsible for direct financial assistance—income support and like measures—for the farmers and graziers. That was the agreement that was reached at the end of last year.

What they would like to see is a common set of standards and a common set of triggers and policies by state governments. There has not been a response from the state and territory governments to move to that level of standardisation on their drought responses. They believe that they would like to keep complete autonomy about how they customise their response to the drought in their jurisdictions, and that's a matter for the states and territories. They are sovereign governments. They have constitutional authority for these matters, and that's what they would like to see.

I understand why the National Farmers Federation would like to see greater consistency across these areas, and I've undertaken to work with the National Farmers Federation to see what such a common standard might look like. At the end of the day, we have to respect the autonomy and the sovereignty of each of the state governments to deal with the issues that they present. I thank the member for his question and for the opportunity to make this crystal clear.