Premier Peter Malinauskas parties with farmers while announcing $1500 drought relief grants

Premier Peter Malinauskas has hailed the “resilience” of SA’s farmers at a special event in Peterborough – and has detailed how they can get their hands on drought-relief dollars.

Premier Peter Malinauskas has hailed the resilience and determination of South Australia’s farmers and rural communities during a drought awareness event at Peterborough on Monday.

Mr Malinauskas and most of his cabinet ministers were among about 1000 people who flocked to the street party in Railway St outside the Peterborough Hotel.

“Do not underestimate how much city folk have a degree of consciousness of the difficulty of the lack of rain and drought at the moment,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“The most endearing and powerful feature of South Australia writ large is a sense of determination and resilience, and that is no more true than in this part of the world.”

“It isn’t without a massive degree of irony that over the course of the weekend I spent as much time talking about drought as I did about flood.

“Because … in the far north of our state we’re now in ongoing circumstances where livestock is trapped, towns are being isolated because of too much water rather than too little.

“And it is a powerful demonstration of the diversity and the complexity of this state that we’re lucky enough to call home. But each and every of these challenges is able to be overcome, with perseverance and determination.”

Peter Malinauskas with Phillip Ferguson, Kevin Malycha, Anthony Malycha and Bridget Woods at the Peterborough Party. Picture: Ben Clark

Mr Malinauskas announced on Monday that grants of up to $1500 were now available to drought-affected farming families and rural small business owners through the government’s rural support grant.

Delivered through Rural Business Support from the government’s drought support package, the grants offer relief to help cover essentials like council rates, power bills, vehicle repairs and school fees.

“Our support package was always designed to provide household relief, as well as long-term assistance for our primary producers,” Mr Malinauskas said.

Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said the ministers were keen to attend the Peter Party to show their support for drought-affect regional areas.

“Talking to some of the locals, they really appreciate that the community can come together and know that we’re all thinking about them and the pressures that they’ve been under, particularly over the last 12 months in the dry conditions,” he said.

“Hopefully this is a good reason for people to continue coming up to Peterborough and to the other towns, showing a bit of support in the coming months.”

Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven said events such as the Peter Party were important to give primary producers a few hours off the farm.

Peterborough Mayor Ruth Whittle said the town had been abuzz with excitement in the build-up to the Peter Party and the event itself did not disappoint.

“It’s fairly obvious, you can see everybody’s here, everybody’s having a feed and a drink, everyone’s happy and it’s a great escape from what other troubles they’ve got,” she said.

Police officers and Stephen Mullighan MP at the Peterborough Party. Picture: Ben Clark

Peterborough’s plan to combat drought with community co-op

Peterborough community members want to create a co-operative to help each other deal with the complexities and paperwork that comes with surviving drought.

Bridget Woods, Eileen Martin and Sharon Malycha are behind the move and have convened a meeting in the Peterborough Hotel front bar in May.

“It’ll be about resourcing information, applying for grants, pooling loads of feed and things into the community so that those that don’t need a whole semi load can get just a part of a load or whatever they need,” Ms Woods said.

“We’ll be looking at contact with different grain outlets trying to get stock feed brought in and a variety of other stuff.”

The trio were handing out an information paper at Monday’s Peterborough drought relief event convened by The Advertiser.

“Our community is a strong and resilient one but now with the drought we are also vulnerable,” they say in the pamphlet.

“What we are trying to do is come up with a future drought initiative that we can start now and work towards having a … drought hub and information centre that is central to the area and can help point people in the right direction.”

Ms Woods was among farmers who spoke with Mr Malinauskas at the Peterborough drought event.

“The open invitation is still there for him to come out and spend a day in our shoes and the paddock and see what we’re dealing with,” she said.

“But I’m so grateful that he has decided to honour us by visiting us here and having a look at our community and how much we’re struggling. That’s a big start.”

Originally published as Premier Peter Malinauskas parties with farmers while announcing $1500 drought relief grants