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

We've seen clearly over the last couple of days the horrific impact that drought, combined with fires, is having on our communities across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and WA. Our government believes that agriculture has a very bright future in this country, and we want to ensure that our regional communities are vibrant places where people want to come and live and work. We're supportive of that positive future, with a $5 billion Future Drought Fund providing sustainable and ongoing much-needed cash to support communities and farmers to prepare for the next drought with resilience programs. There is $3.3 billion in funding for water projects to build dams, to assist farmers with on-farm water infrastructure and to build the weirs and pipelines so that we can get water from where it falls to where it's actually needed to grow safe, sustainable and nutritious food not just for us but for the world. We have farm management deposit schemes to help farmers prepare for the future. We will continue to stand with them through this drought and well into recovery.