Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management. I join my colleagues to declare that I, too, am confident about Australia's future. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison-McCormack government is working to make it even better through its plan to support farmers experiencing drought and by backing Australian agriculture? And is the minister aware of any other alternatives?

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I thank the member for Mallee for her question. The electorate of Mallee has been severely impacted by this drought that has spread like a cancer, starting up in Queensland, right down the east coast into Tasmania and now into WA. That's why our government's national drought strategy has three pillars. It is about delivery, real delivery, to people on the ground. The first pillar is around the here and now: putting money into farmers' pockets, understanding they need support right now. And that comes through the farm household allowance, giving them the dignity and respect they deserve to be able to buy household items, but also complementing that with Regional Investment Corporation loans to allow people to refinance up to $2 million from their financial institution to the Regional Investment Corporation, taking interest and repayments out of the banks' pockets and putting it back into farmers' pockets—with nothing to pay in interest or repayments for two years—but also the opportunity to recover, when it does rain, to restock and replant as quickly as they can, because it takes time for cash flow to recover. That's complemented by rural financial counsellors, in the here and now, on the ground helping them fill out the paperwork.

Our second pillar is about the community, understanding the drought extends past the farm gate into these communities that support them. In our last package of drought support, we put over $400 million in additional stimulus to get tradies going, and to procure the materials out of local hardware stores, and to make sure that, when the funding and the spending from farmers dries up, the government is there to stimulate those economies. It's also about ensuring and understanding that it flows into those other workers in those communities who are doing it tough. We have the Drought Community Support program that's putting in $3,000 to help people, particularly at this time of the year through Christmas, through the Salvation Army and Vinnies.

The third pillar is about the future. We're the first government that's looking to the next drought, because the next drought starts the first day after it rains again. We've done that already with over $500 million a year in support through farm management deposits and tax write-offs, and now with the Future Drought Fund—a $5 billion fund—giving a $100 million dividend every year. The plan for that fund will be placed in parliament in the coming months, also with respect to building water infrastructure.

Today, to make sure that the delivery of all these programs, totalling more than $8 billion in commitments, is done properly, we're extending the amazing work that Shane Stone has done in respect of the north-west Queensland floods; we're now extending his and his team's expertise to making sure that we deliver this for the drought. This will not just be having people in Canberra; this will be having people out on the ground, making sure that the over $8 billion the Australian taxpayers have put in to support our farmers is spent properly—and holding the states to account for their responsibility.

We have confidence in Australia; we have confidence in regional and rural Australia to get through this drought, because this government and this nation will stand with them to make sure that we get there when it rains.

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

The member for Shortland has returned after his one-hour suspension. I require him to withdraw his last comment unreservedly.

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.