Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to put some brief remarks on the record for Labor with regard to the Farm Household Support Amendment Bill 2018. On 20 June 2018 the government introduced the Farm Household Support Amendment Bill. This will amend the Farm Household Support Act 2014, known as the FHS Act, to extend the Farm Household Allowance program from three cumulative years to four cumulative years for each recipient. Extension of the Farm Household Allowance program, the FHA program, for four years provides time-limited support to farmers and farmers' partners facing hardship. Currently, the maximum period a person can participate in the FHA program is three cumulative years, or 1,095 days. The bill will extend the maximum period a person can participate in the FHA program to four years, or 1,460 days. Labor is supporting the bill.