Page 3296 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 21 August 2019
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(d) the NSW Government are providing extended drought relief to NSW farm businesses through their Emergency Drought relief Package 2019-2020—this package includes further drought transport subsidies; and
(e) that the ACT has a relatively small number of farm businesses operating in comparison to NSW, however, the shared border requires both jurisdictions to operate in the same market; and
(2) calls on the ACT Government to extend drought relief to ACT farm businesses in line with the NSW Government and ensure valid applications for any freight subsidy scheme are considered retrospectively from 31 July 2019.
In bringing this motion before the Assembly today, my aim is to highlight the plight of farm businesses in the ACT who are continuing to be impacted by one of the worst droughts in decades. Whilst we do not immediately associate the ACT with being a farming jurisdiction, we are, after all, the bush capital and we are home to farming businesses which collectively manage about 39,000 hectares, which equates to about 15 per cent of the ACT land area.
In 2017-18 the gross value of agricultural production in the ACT was estimated at $11 million. The most important commodities fostered in the ACT were cattle and calves, at $2.4 million; followed by wool, at $1.2 million; and poultry, at $1.2 million. These commodities contributed 45 per cent of the total value of agricultural production for the region. This is not an insignificant contribution, given not only the size of the ACT as a jurisdiction but the relatively small number of primary producers that we are home to.
While it remains cold and snowy in our town, as it has been over the last couple of weeks, it can be hard for us to remember that we have had little in the way of soaking rain for a very long time. In fact, the recent cold snap brought with it the hope of snowfalls in the mountains and rainfall for our rural areas. Alas, very little was received.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the last 31 months have been the driest on record for the state of New South Wales, which, of course, we are located right in the middle of. Using satellite data, the ANU’s Research School of Earth Sciences has found that the drought conditions we are experiencing appear to be worse than the millennial drought, which occurred between 2001 and 2009. Locally, we have not received the autumn or winter rainfall that we usually receive, and any rain that does appear gets soaked up by the very dry environment, rather than reaching dams and reservoirs on properties.
These conditions are affecting our farm businesses, and they have been affecting them in a big way for quite some time. Rural leaseholders last year called it when they predicted that the drought conditions were not over—not by any stretch.
Members in this place will be aware of my calls last year for the government to support a package for farmers to assist them through the drought—an assistance package which should have been brought forward then, in line with New South Wales, and the same issue stands now. The New South Wales scheme continues and the
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