‘It’s too little, too late’: PM’s drought rescue package slammed

MALCOLM Turnbull’s $12,000 drought relief package to farmers has been condemned as “nowhere near enough”.

THE woman who broke down in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s arms as she tried to relay to him the devastation of the drought has slammed his rescue package to farmers.

Drought-awareness campaigner Edwina Robertson lapsed into tears when she met the PM in country NSW on Sunday, after he announced $190 million worth of relief.

But she slammed Mr Turnbull’s rescue package of $12,000 cash payments to farmers as she spoke to Leigh Sales on ABC’s 7.30 on Monday night.

She said the “overall message” from those stuck in the grip of the nightmare is “it’s very disappointing”.

“Everyone is saying it’s too little, too late,” the drought awareness campaigner said.

Edwina Robertson in tears with Malcolm Turnbull

“We’re in the midst of this drought. It didn’t start just a month ago, it’s been going for months, if not years for a lot of people.

“I think there’s just no understanding of what people need and how dire it is.

“That’s the worrying thing, that people are doing it seriously tough and, you know, $12,000 in two payments over 12 months is just not enough. It’s not enough at all.”

Asked if she could redo the emotional encounter she had with the PM, Ms Robertson pulled no punches.

Edwina Robertson on 7.30 bagging the PM’s drought package

“I would really ask for him to sit down, talk to the people of the bush and really see what is happening. Going to one property on a Sunday is not sufficient enough. I know he has his people working with him and telling him what is happening, but these are the lives and livelihoods and homes of people on the brink now. It’s a crisis. It’s a national crisis,” she said.

Mr Turnbull then joined 7.30 with Ms Sales, and defended the package — despite the fact it would barely pay for a load of hay.

“In the last few months I’ve been in many parts of regional Australia from Queensland, North Queensland, Western New South Wales, the Upper Hunter Valley, Lucy and I have had sheep and cattle properties for 36 years so we know first-hand in a real way the impacts of drought on people in the livestock business,” he said.

PM Malcolm Turnbull grilled by Leigh Sales on 7.30

He said the $12,000 was not insufficient, because “it’s not $12,000 by itself” — it is a supplement to the farm household allowance, which “typically is about $15,000, $16,000 for a year. So we’re adding for a family another $12,000 to that”.

He said it was not “designed to keep body and soul together, not designed to pay for fodder. It wouldn’t pay — $12,000 would barely pay for a truckload of hay at the moment.”

Asked why the payment would be delivered in two instalments, the second one next March, when people are hurting now, he replied “they will likely be hurting in March too”.

“The prospect is that it’s going to be a dry spring and a hot dry summer. They will need more support right through that period,” Mr Turnbull said.

Asked why not give $12,00 now, and more in March, Mr Turnbull said “that’s the decision we’ve made”.

Originally published as ‘It’s too little, too late’: PM’s drought rescue package slammed