Adam Marshall highlighting the drought conditions

Probing the Agriculture Minister over drought conditions

With the prospect of prolonged dry conditions looming large across the region, l used State Parliament this week to question Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty about what plans she has to support primary producers and rural communities through drought this summer. I pressed the Minister by asking when the government would officially recognise that rural and regional NSW was already in the grip of drought, which would only worsen and spread as the warm dry weather intensified. Conditions are bad, they will only get worse, and some areas are already in drought, yet we haven’t heard a peep from the Minister, nor any official mention of the word ‘drought’ from the government, let alone any indications of support on the way. The Minister needs to be honest and upfront about the reality of the situation on the land and the grim outlook for the summer. This is a minimum requirement of her holding the office she does.
We are already seeing echoes of the previous drought, with raging bushfires across the region and a long, hot and dry summer predicted. Farmers and rural communities deserve to hear from the Agriculture Minister and to know what the government is planning to help, if anything at all. Drought and bushfires will almost certainly be the biggest challenges our region will face over the coming months, and we are entitled to some answers. I also moved a motion in Parliament only last week calling for the government to initiate drought support measures.
Farmers want some reassurance from their state government that they will be supported if severe drought returns. During the last drought, the government provided transport subsidies which allowed farmers to claim back some of the costs associated with the transport of fodder, as well as water infrastructure rebates.