Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I recognise the fact that Senator Macdonald represents some of the areas that have been impacted the hardest by drought, including around Townsville and having visited Giru a few weeks ago and seen the impact on the cane fields there, which was not as devastating as we saw in the gulf areas with the cattle industry but still a big impact for those farmers. That's why we announced more than $6 billion of drought funding in the budget last night and over $3 billion in flood relief. That includes the immediate $75,000 grants we provided to farmers impacted by this flood. That's three times the normal level, given the significance of this event. In recent weeks, we've announced that we'll make available up to $400,000 in grants to graziers to restock their land so that we can get these properties, particularly those in the gulf that have lost thousands of cattle, possibly up to half a million cattle, back on their feet. We've provided $5 million to CWA, the Country Women's Association, to provide assistance to those in drought, and we're also offering concessional loans. There are a lot of other things in the budget to help. We're doing all we can to get people back on their feet after these devastating floods and droughts.