Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I turn to the issues I was going to address, I think it's important for me to address the comments made by Senator O'Sullivan. Whilst I respect Senator O'Sullivan's connection with the bush and his genuinely-held views on support for people suffering drought, as are mine, I think there is an inconvenient truth that Senator O'Sullivan omits, and that is that people on the land do accept that climate change is real. In fact, I'm looking at a submission from the Queensland Farmers' Federation from last year to a Queensland parliamentary committee. They said:

QFF acknowledges that climate change poses a substantial challenge for all Queenslanders and the industries on which they depend. It is already evident that Queensland’s climate is changing and that many aspects of everyday life are also being altered by these changes.

That is the view of the peak organisation representing farmers in our home state. Let's take that issue out of the equation.

Also, I would like to agree with Senator O'Sullivan's comment that the issue of drought and the impact that it's having on regional communities is not something which should be the subject of partisan political debate. People want to see the major parties coming together to work out a solution. That doesn't mean that we can't be critical of the government, because, if we feel that what they're doing to assist people on the land in these desperate situations is not sufficient, then it's our responsibility to make some comment about that and to advocate for policy changes. We don't resile from that. That's not making it a political football; it's about our genuine concern and, having listened to people on the land, understanding what it is that they're seeking and trying to respond to that.

I congratulate the many people and organisations that are out there right now on the ground helping drought-affected farmers in a range of ways, including donating food for families, donating food for stock and raising money. People are deliberately making purchases at the supermarket to assist farmers. I particularly want to pay tribute to the Rural Aid Ltd program called Buy a Bale which has delivered 160,000 bales of hay over the last five or so years across four states. This is a program I would encourage people to get on board with. Go to buyabale.com.au. Twenty dollars can buy a small bale of hay and assists with the costs of transport, which is a huge part of the issue. Getting the feed out to farmers is a considerable expense. If you want to go to $100, that will cover the cost of a large bale of hay. I also want to pay tribute to the young schoolboy from Freshwater in New South Wales who came up with the Fiver for a Farmer campaign, which raised $20,000 in 48 hours. So there are some inspirational stories. People are genuinely concerned about people on the land.

We are a nation of battlers and it is getting harder on the land to make a living, but what happens in hard times is that Aussies get together and support each other. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit areas affected by the drought in Queensland, just outside of Longreach. I joined Bill Shorten, the federal Labor leader, the shadow minister for agriculture, Joel Fitzgibbon, and our Labor for Regions local executive member, David Kerrigan. We met with local councils, community leaders and drought affected property owners. I note that Mr Shorten has recently made a contribution in the other place, talking about his visit and the conversation he had on Latrobe Station, speaking directly with drought affected farmers. We met with the Longreach Regional Council. They made the point to us that assistance is needed for restocking. Many of the properties have essentially destocked as the drought has progressed and there is a considerable need to look at ways to support restocking when the time is right.

This is a devastating drought and those affected need our help. What is our response to this? Labor is calling on government to allow farmers full access to the $12,000 assistance payment now, instead of half now and half in March of next year. We know that this would be of great assistance to people on the land. We say: let's give the farmers the option as to how they spend that $12,000 household relief payment so that people don't have to wait till next year to get some of that money; let's let them make the decision. I know the government is looking at a review of the farm household allowance. This is a good opportunity for suggestions to come in, although the government has already done some work in this area, and I acknowledge that, in the extension of time for the allowance.

Labor have also come out and said that, if elected, we would have a $20 million regional economic development fund. This recognises the fact that it's not just the farmers in regional communities who are suffering—although they are on the front line and they well and truly deserve our attention—but communities that depend on the farmers are also feeling the pain. We would create a $20 million fund to stimulate local economies and support local jobs. This would continue the work of the existing Drought Communities Program, which the government has failed to fund beyond this financial year. It would be redesigned to provide local communities with the support they need.

This fund is targeted at providing funding to local government. They are the ones who are on the ground with shovel-ready projects, and they know how to spend money in the most efficient and effective ways possible. This might well go to things such as road and street infrastructure. It might go to small-scale capital developments like community facilities and sporting fields. These are the types of things that can make all the difference for local communities. They're not huge amounts of money but they provide jobs and economic activity, which is exactly what these communities are looking for.

We've also just recently come out and suggested that there should be 100 new Centrelink community response officers, including local outreach services. One of the things we know is that there are 15,000 eligible farmers—that's about two-thirds of all eligible farmers—missing out on the farm household allowance. That is an amazing figure. It could well be that there are some farmers who don't want to apply for it, but we all know the concerns about the difficulty of applying for the farm household allowance. The application process has been the subject of many complaints, so we're concerned about the fact that there are people falling through the cracks. Busy farmers don't have the time to wade through the bureaucracy, so having community response officers on the ground to help provide quicker access to income support with better links to financial counselling and mental health services is going to be a very concrete, practical way to assist people on the land.

I also want to make a point about water conservation. When I visited St George recently, which I've previously spoken about in this place, I saw how farmers use government incentives to conserve water. We know that the vast majority of farmers are the best stewards of the land. They know how to make use of these precious resources. These are all factors that need to be addressed when it comes to considering climate change, but we need to help our producers to implement better irrigation and conservation methods, and we need to support them to switch to less water-intensive industries where possible. I also want to highlight the fact that I have a regional inequality hearing of the Senate Economics Committee in Emerald on 29 August.