Farmer council rate exemption needs to get the ‘green light’
Former agriculture minister Peter Walsh says a plan to exempt rates for some Victorian farmers needs an immediate tick of approval from the Premier.
A joint farmer-council plan to exempt drought-hit landholders from paying municipal rates for 12 months needs to be enacted now, former Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh says.
The $87m proposal from the Victorian Farmers Federation and Rural Councils Victoria has been put to Premier Jacinta Allan, though her office is yet to give it the green light.
The 100 per cent rates cut would be applicable to 11 council areas — Glenelg, Southern Grampians, Warrnambool, Moyne, Corangamite, Colac Otway, Surf Coast, West Wimmera, Ararat, Pyrenees and Golden Plains.
The 11 municipalities have been identified as most in need as they were the first to be effectively designated as drought affected by the Victorian government in September 2024.
Mr Walsh is the only opposition MP on the government’s drought taskforce, which has met three times in the past month. Speaking as an MP, the former agriculture minister said he backed the VFF-RCV concept as simple to administer.
“As the Premier said a number of times publicly, the drought taskforce is about canvassing all the ideas to support farmers and rural communities affected by drought,” he said.
“The consensus view of rural representatives (on the taskforce), was the simplest to administer, and the most equitable, because it’s based on a percentage of the shire rates.
“The (Bracks) government paid 50 per cent of shire rates and had a program of paying for some of the fixed charges for irrigators during the millennium drought, so it has some precedent. Clearly, there isn’t substantial irrigation in the southwest, but there is a strong case for support on rates.”
VFF president Brett Hosking advocated for the exemption at the latest drought taskforce meeting in Ballarat on June 21.
Another meeting of the taskforce is yet to be scheduled but Mr Walsh said the Premier could easily green light the plan as an executive decision.
“Circumstances are not going to become favourable in the near future because it’s too cold,” the Murray Plains MP said.
“No matter how much it rains, it doesn’t rain grass and it’s certainly not going to rain money. “Even if the spring does improve, at this stage it’s in the balance, it’s my understanding there’s very little surface water, which is as much a challenge as the feed situation.
“It will take farmers several years to work through the debt they’ve (amassed) and rebuild their fodder supplies.
The Premier’s office was asked by The Weekly Times when a decision would be made on drought rates relief, what percentage of rates would be covered in a state assistance package and when the next drought taskforce meeting was scheduled.
None of those questions were answered, however a spokeswoman for the Premier said:
“We know more support is needed which is why the Drought Response Taskforce is listening to farmers to help inform further supports for drought communities.”
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