Page 3298 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 21 August 2019

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stock in the same saleyards as those in New South Wales who are in receipt of the assistance.

Members will note that my motion called on the government to apply the subsidy retrospectively. As I said in my comments earlier, this is as a result of the subsidy lapsing in July this year and there being a gap if it were to be reinstated now, without that retrospectivity. Again, this inoculates ACT farmers against falling through the cracks for any lag between the cessation of the last scheme and the reintroduction of these measures.

My motion today should be taken by the government as a no-brainer. I hope that it enjoys their full support and that we see the reintroduction of this support package for local farmers as a priority. I do not think there is any desire by members of the community to see this lapse. In fact, I think there would be some outrage if they knew that it had currently lapsed and that there was a gap. I look forward to hearing what the government has to say on that, and hope that there is support not only for my motion but for local farmers.

MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Manager of Government Business, Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries) (4.45): I thank Mr Wall for this motion today. It is important that we support our local farmers. I have circulated an amendment to the motion, which I now move:

Omit all text after “That this Assembly”, substitute:

(1) notes that:

(a) severe dry conditions continue throughout NSW and the ACT;

(b) according to the Bureau of Meteorology, the 31 months between January 2017 and July 2019 have been the driest on record for the ACT since the height of the millennium drought of 1996 to 2010;

(i) put in place a 50 percent freight transport subsidy scheme for ACT farm businesses for a 12-month period that ended in July 2019, based on the NSW model;

(ii) provided access to rural resilience grants for rural landholders to support on-farm infrastructure that will build future resilience; and

(iii) where possible, has assisted rural leaseholders with short-term leases for drought relief purposes;

(d) the NSW Government is providing extended drought relief to NSW farm businesses through their Emergency Drought Relief Package 2019-2020, including drought transport subsidies;

(e) the ACT Government is facilitating the Australian Government’s On-Farm Emergency Stock Water Infrastructure Rebate Scheme, which enables ACT rural landholders to seek a 25 percent rebate on expenditure for emergency stock water infrastructure; and

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