Federal budget 2024-25: Drought funding gets a $519 million boost

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will invest more than half a billion dollars to refocus the Coalition’s Future Drought Fund and prepare farmers for more severe weather.

Drought funding is being given a major funding boost, with the federal government spending more than $519 million to help implement the recommendations of a Productivity Commission review into the effectiveness of the $5 billion Future Drought Fund.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will tell guests at Beef Week in Rockhampton, in Far North Queensland, on Tuesday it was vital the government supported Australian farmers and producers to prepare for more severe weather.

“By doing the work now, our rural and regional communities are not just reacting to events as they unfold, but will have considered plans to make them more resilient to climate change,” the Prime Minister said.

In February, the federal government released the FDF’s next four-year strategy to guide the way drought and climate change preparedness was funded.

Based on recommendations from the Productivity Commission’s review of the FDF in September last year, the fund will now focus more on climate change as a driver of longer and more serious droughts.

Ahead of next week’s federal budget budget, Mr Albanese said his government would spend $519 million over eight years to continue to fund, extend and refine programs and develop new initiatives to support farmers during drought.

This includes $235 million from 2024-25 to work with regions and communities to help them manage their own drought and climate risks through collaborative and locally led action, and a short-term extension of eight central hubs and more than 40 regional nodes called the Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs.

Another $41.2 million has been committed in the 2024-25 budget to ensure the effective management of the FDF.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the government was investing in a new and improved FDF.

“We’re helping farmers across the country develop business plans to manage diversification in a changing climate, we’re helping regional communities manage drought and other climate risks, and helping individuals get leadership training and mentoring,” Mr Watt said.

The $5 billion Future Drought Fund was established by the Coalition in 2019 at the height of one of Australia’s worst droughts.

The fund is designed to allocate $100 million of its earnings each year to build regional resilience and prepare farmers for drought.

The Productivity Commission’s 2023 review found the FDF was establishing a solid foundation for building drought resilience, but it should explicitly recognise climate change resilience to ensure programs addressed a broader range of climactic risks.