The third Drought Roundtable has wrapped up with a meaningful contribution towards a finalised drought strategy that’s fit for the future.
Minister for Drought David Littleproud welcomed constructive talks with the NFF and state bodies to improve resilience and preparedness through a nationally consistent strategy.
“We agreed to review our current programs and move towards resilience rather than reliance, leveraging the $5 Billion Future Drought Fund and the work of Major General Day to have a strategy that’s fit for the future,” Minister Littleproud said.
“Farmers around the country are experiencing conditions they’ve never seen before.
“Drought is everyone’s responsibility and the Federal Government and states all have to do their fair share. It re-enforced my call on states to not only look to pay councils for the rates of small businesses and farmers in drought affected areas but also introduce a Food and Fiber Tariff for farmers and businesses that reduced one of their biggest financial burdens.
“I thank Fiona Simson and the National Farmers Federation for their constructive and pragmatic approach to how we tackle these issues together into the future. We need to take a hard look at what governments provide and finally get some national consistency across both tiers of government.”
We are committed on building on the work Major General Day has provided the government but we need to be honest not everyone is going to get through this.
“The Coalition Government will continue to stand with Australian farmers, the small businesses who support them and the communities they live in but this provides us a once in a generation opportunity to set a drought policy for generations to come.”
