Southwest Victorian green drought: Westpac break silence on drought declaration

Three of the Big Four banks ruled out using drought declaration as a way of dodging farmer aid. Now Westpac has spoken for the first time.

Westpac has broken its silence on drought assistance after growing pressure over how banks have treated southwest Victoria’s farmers.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano and Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett raised concerns in September over banking officials using the lack of a ‘drought declaration’ in the green drought zone as a form of deflection.

The Weekly Times revealed some farmers were told by bank representatives that interest rate adjustments and other forms of financial relief were not possible due to the federal government not declaring the region a drought zone.

Drought declarations or ‘exceptional circumstance’ regions were abolished in 2012 under Canberra aid reforms.

After media reports of the practice, the ANZ, Bendigo, Commonwealth, National and Rabobank all ruled out the need for drought declaration.

Westpac did not respond to questioning at the time but a spokeswoman this week said the bank could confirm a drought declaration was not necessary.

“Our bankers are proactively reaching out to customers so we can provide tailored support based on their needs,” the Westpac spokeswoman said.

“We encourage any customers who may be doing it tough to get in touch to find out how we can help.”

Last month, Victorian Agriculture Minister Ros Spence confirmed state government officials met with banking representatives following reports of using the lack of drought declaration as a means to deflect financially distressed farmer-customers.

“Agriculture Victoria got a number of the banks together recently for a chat,” Ms Spence said.

“They said ‘no, we don’t need to declare a drought for you to provide assistance to your customers’. My understanding is since that meeting, there’s been a positive shift.

“Absolutely (Westpac does not need a drought declaration). We want to make sure that those affected by drought know the bank is someone they can reach out to.”

Last week, applications opened for eligible farmers to access co-contribution grants of up to $5000 for on-farm drought-related improvements.

The grants can cover farm projects such as water infrastructure upgrades, stock containment areas, grain and fodder storage and drought management tools.

The $12.1 million grants program applies to the Glenelg, Southern Grampians, Warrnambool, Moyne, Corangamite, Colac Otway, Surf Coast, Ararat, Pyrenees, Golden Plains and Greater Geelong, as well as the southern half of West Wimmera Shire.

Originally published as Southwest Victorian green drought: Westpac break silence on drought declaration