Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

As you know, this drought is showing no signs of halting, and our government has chosen to stand with our drought affected farmers and their communities from the very, very beginning, from the Drought Summit last year, where all premiers across this country came to Canberra and, as a Commonwealth, actually started towards agreeing how we're going to support our farmers. We were able to make more than $7 billion worth of commitments to our farmers, focusing on assisting them right now, in the here and now—our front line, the farming communities and their families—and then making sure that drought affected communities are supported as the drought continues, because it is not just our farming families that end up affected; it is actually our rural supply stores, the employment in these local areas. So we are supporting those drought affected communities with much-needed economic stimulus.

We announced last week a $200 million drought-only round of the BBRF, doubling the Roads to Recovery funding for these councils, so that they can employ locals and so that they can purchase the products for these projects from the local hardware stores and keep that money spinning through regional communities and keep people employed. When businesses dry up and when the cash dries up, people leave town and they do not come back. Over the weekend I was in Moree, and the mayor there, Katrina Humphries, talked about the impact on the whole community. She's a small business owner. Moree is like the moon landscape; it is incredibly dry. I have never seen anything like it. It is usually one of the most productive agricultural regions in the country, and now they're facing year on year of hardship and it's affecting the towns. I spoke to Col, who runs the local motorbike store. He's looking at laying people off if he cannot get the support required. (Time expired)