The Australian government owes struggling farmers a real drought policy
As Australian families continue lose hope in government promises, the need for real help and long-term planning has never been more pressing, writes Sky News’ Andrea Crothers.
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With one small but significant omission, four-year-old Oscar Drynan broke his mother’s heart.
He’d drawn a picture for his father’s birthday — a typical scene of cattle and red dirt on their drought-stricken property, but he left something off: grass.
When mum Rosie asked if he should add some, Oscar replied: “No.”
After a week on the road as part of Sky News’ special drought coverage, travelling 1,000 kilometres through some of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales’ hardest hit areas, this was the moment that stuck with me.
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Rosie and husband Cameron took over her family’s century-old station, near Bollon in southwest Queensland, seven years ago at the start of this latest drought. They’ve been handfeeding their sheep and cattle on and off ever since.
“It’s relentless. Every day, day in, day out,” Cameron Drynan said.
Rosie added: “Änd just when you think it can’t get any worse, it seems to somehow.”
Those images don’t leave you. I grew up in the Millennium drought on our family property near the small southern Queensland town of Hebel.
I still remember jumping in the truck as Dad carted water from rapidly drying up water holes around the property to our house tanks.
The lawn was long gone, replaced by dirt and burrs. I still remember mum’s dismayed expression every time she looked at her garden.
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Mum washed our clothes at our school in town, because it ran off bore-water.
Our short showers involved standing over three 10-litre buckets, so mum could pour the soapy water on the few pot plants she had left, for her own sanity.
Travelling back through these communities recently for Sky News, it is even worse than when I was a child.
Old trees that have survived hundreds of years are dying and even the kangaroos which usually plague these areas are visibly struggling. That’s something many locals in these parts say they haven’t seen before.
Businesses are struggling and many places have shut up shop.
In Collarenebri, the footy club was forced to hang up its boots because the town (which relies on river supply) couldn’t spare the water to keep the field alive.
The town’s cracked racecourse was deemed so dangerously dry, it’s only meet was cancelled.
For those pointing the finger at Cubbie Station, its dams are bone dry too. That’s right — Australia’s largest cotton producer, the majority Chinese-owned Cubbie Station, isn’t hoarding any water. Yes, the controversial station’s dams when combined can hold enough water to fill Sydney Harbour. Does that happen often? No.
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It doesn’t matter which side of the ‘is-Cubbie-too-big?’ or ‘should-cotton-even-be-grown-in-Australia?’ debates you sit, one thing is clear: no cotton will be grown in Dirranbandi this year. Only one per cent of the region’s crop was grown last season.
Here’s another fact: Dubbo isn’t headed for ‘day zero’.
Central West NSW councils remain frustrated at the misinformation and hysteria, which they believe is turning tourists away, for fear of using meagre water supplies.
These towns need tourist dollars now more than ever.
Most farmers prepare for drought, but they also need help from the Government.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday told Question Time the Government had paid out $114.2 million in the most recent year through the Farm Household Allowance.
It comes amid heavy criticism, after it was revealed hundreds of Queensland farmers were booted off the Centrelink payments for reaching the four-year limit.
Some insist the payments should be extended, while others argue the application process is too drawn out.
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Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie has previously said if farmers still need taxpayer support beyond the four years, then they need to consider if they’re in the right business. It’s tough message for the Nats to sell, but it’s a fair one.
A lot of ideas were raised with me on my trip through the drought-ravaged region — from wage subsidies and rate relief to restocking grants. I don’t agree with all of them.
But for those still questioning if drought-support is needed, it’s worth remembering the value of agriculture to our economy. Australia is one of the world’s largest agricultural exporters — competing against countries where farmers are heavily subsidised. The proportion of public funds that flow to Aussie farmers is quite small in the scheme of things.
This is why drought policy is needed.
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Drought Minister David Littleproud often uses the phrase “make no bones about it” to emphasise a point. Well, make no bones about this, Mr Littleproud, your drought-stricken electorate and the rest of Australia’s agricultural industry is waiting for your Government to come up with a drought policy.
For the Prime Minister to again tell the National Farmers Federation — at their own 40th Anniversary Gala on Monday night — that the Government’s three-pronged approach was enough, just doesn’t cut the mustard.
As one long-term rural businessman, Neale O’Brien, (and Littleproud supporter too, I might add) put it to me: “We’ve been waiting for seven years but we haven’t been listening to the Federal Government because we just don’t think anything is going to happen.”
It won’t help this drought, but it will help manage future droughts.
For the sake of our rural Australians, more needs to happen — before it’s too late.
Andrea Crothers is a senior reporter on Sky News Australia
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