Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has welcomed a new package of initiatives designed to help Gippsland\u2019s drought-affected farmers and local communities, but says there\u2019s still more support required.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister announced the $57.4 million package of new drought assistance measures this weekend, bringing the total amount the Federal Government is investing in drought support to more than $6.3 billion.<\/p>\n
Included in the package is $1 million for Latrobe City under the Drought Communities Program to support local jobs.<\/p>\n
The new measures include:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A new restocking and replanting concessional loan of up to $200,000 with a two year interest free period and no interest accrual available through the Regional Investment Corporation;
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Changes to the Farm Household Allowance, including making payments available to farmers for four in every 10 years and the $5 million farm asset threshold becoming permanent;
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 $7 million to establish a pilot rural financial counselling service to help small regional and rural businesses with financial planning, mentoring and coaching;
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 extending the Drought Communities Program to include 14 more councils facing drought, bringing the number of municipalities involved to 110; and
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 $20 million for regional agricultural show societies to upgrade infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Mr Chester said it was important to have a range of initiatives to tackle the drought on a number of fronts and all levels of government needed to do more to reduce costs for local farming families.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the worst drought in 100 years in some parts of Gippsland and many farmers are struggling to meet costs such as bank loans, municipal rates, feed for stock, re-establishing pasture or transporting stock for agistment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe length of the drought has exhausted farmers\u2019 cash reserves and some are not in a position to meet their ongoing costs, let alone re-establish their properties when better conditions return.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis fresh package of initiatives is a positive step but we need a coordinated recovery plan which recognises it will take several years for farmers to get back to full profitability. The drought is affecting farmers differently across Gippsland, so I don\u2019t expect one single measure will be the answer for them all.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know there is more to be done across all levels of government. One thing farmers are telling us consistently is rate relief is urgently needed \u2013 and that\u2019s where the State Government needs to step in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disgraceful that Premier Andrews still hasn\u2019t visited Gippsland to see the areas worst affected by drought. It\u2019s no wonder our farmers feel frustrated and forgotten.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to work together as a matter of urgency to do more to help our farming families.\u00a0 Premier Andrews has been invisible during this crisis and must do something that makes a real difference to help out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Chester also welcomed the inclusion of Latrobe City in the Federal Government\u2019s Drought Communities Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cLatrobe City is now eligible for up to $1 million for local infrastructure and other drought relief projects for communities impacted by drought under the Drought Communities Program,\u201d Mr Chester said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis program, which already includes East Gippsland and Wellington shires, is designed to generate jobs and support local businesses and suppliers in areas where employment has been adversely impacted by the drought.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis inclusion is recognition that the drought is having an impact on communities in the Latrobe Valley area and provides a helping hand to those communities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has welcomed a new package of initiatives designed to help Gippsland\u2019s drought-affected farmers and local communities, but says there\u2019s still more support required. The Prime Minister announced the $57.4 million package of new drought assistance measures this weekend, bringing the total amount the Federal Government is investing in drought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":113062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[209],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darrenchester.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}