Scott Morrison to attend Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will attend the upcoming Summit as we highlight the importance of regional NSW to Australian society and the economy. Expert panellists will discuss the biggest issues affecting agriculture and regional communities, including the drought, water security, jobs, mining, sustainability, innovative farming practices, tourism and access to healthcare and education.
The worst drought in living memory has slashed NSW’s agricultural exports this year by 22 per cent, hurt small businesses in country towns and placed undue stress on local communities.
Government figures show 97.4 per cent of NSW remains either in drought or drought affected, with recent weather forecasts predicting below average rainfall for the winter months.
In response to this grim outlook The Daily Telegraph has decided to host a Bush Summit next month to raise awareness for these issues and grab the attention of government decision makers.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will attend the Bush Summit at Dubbo in mid-July along with a range of huge names from farming, not for profits and business.
The Daily Telegraph and its publisher News Corp Australia has a long history of supporting farmers and recently led the Adopt a Farmer campaign, which raised more than $300,000 for charity Rural Aid.
The upcoming Summit will highlight the importance of regional NSW to Australian society and the economy, and shed light on issues which demand more attention from policymakers.
Expert panellists at the Summit will discuss some of the biggest issues affecting agriculture and regional communities at the moment, including the drought, water security, jobs, mining, sustainability, innovative farming practices, tourism and access to healthcare and education.
Panellists and attendees will then come up with a series of action points about regional NSW which can then be presented to policymakers, including Mr Morrison.
The announcement of the Summit comes after some parts of NSW received above average rainfall during May, which NAB economist Phin Ziebell said is unfortunately not enough to break the drought.
“One or two rainfall events are always very welcome but they don’t do it, you really need above average rainfall over a few months before you can call it broken,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Ziebell said the Riverina received high rainfall last month which provided short term feed relief and the opportunity for farmers to sow winter crops along the border with Victoria.
But the remainder of the state wasn’t so lucky, with large areas of the far west and north east regions receiving little to rain, with farmers expected to continue experiencing feed shortages and a lack of soil moisture over the coming months.
“Central West and Northern NSW are still very, very dry overall and that is a major challenge, there has been basically no relief for those areas, which were badly affected last year as well,” Mr Ziebell said.
He was speaking on the phone from northern Victoria, which he said experienced the driest first four months of the year on record, before receiving double the average rainfall in May.
“May was very wet, everything looks green now, but it really doesn’t make up for the deficit,” he said.
“So everything looks green, but the country is not well prepared for a dry spring and dry summer.”
Official climate forecasts released by the Bureau of Meteorology predict a higher chance of drier than average conditions for the next two months in NSW, with temperatures expected to be warmer than average from June to August.
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