ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR EDUCATION:
Prime Minister, Barnaby, it’s terrific that you are in the electorate of Farrer, west of the Darling and west of Broken Hill. To John and Kym thanks for having us on your place.
In the Far West everything relating to drought is about management. It’s terrific to see how John and Kym are preparing for drought but I was in Tibaburra a few weeks ago and if the drought that is up there moves here we are going to be in real trouble. Just to feed this stock today costs a lot – transporting the hay, feeding them, finding the next load of hay and worrying about the future.
So, for me as the local member here to have the Prime Minister and the Agriculture Minister here to look first hand at what we are experiencing is an opportunity I am really grateful for.
So, welcome and thank you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, thanks very much Sussan, and Barnaby it is great to be with you here in Broken Hill.
Yesterday we were in Bourke and Longreach. While different parts of Australia are doing it tough; the message from the Government to the people of Australia is that we want agriculture to be every bit as important in Australia’s future as it has been in the past.
If our country is to prosper in the decades, and indeed in the centuries ahead we are going to need a strong and dynamic agricultural sector. That means we’ve got to have good policies in place to deal with the kind of natural disasters which, from time to time, afflict country Australia.
Drought is much more like a natural disaster for country people than it is just something that happens in the ordinary course of business. On a property like this they are doing their best to prepare for whatever comes but sometimes what comes is not just a cyclical up or down. It is a once in 20 year, once in 50 year, once in 100 year event. That’s where the Government has got to be prepared to step in and assist. That is what we will be finalising in the next few days because it is very important that we have a Government in this country that helps people who are prepared to help themselves.
Barnaby?
AGRICULTURE MINISTER:
Thank you very much Prime Minister. Sussan it is great to be on your patch and most importantly John and Kym who have invited us on to their property. It is so important that people in Australia see this. If someone said, “Go out and make a buck out of that,” you would probably say you would be doing it tough but these people do it and they do it well.
I would like to commend John and Kym for the condition of their stock to be quite frank. They are in good nick and it goes to show you what good management critique can do.
This is an issue that we are at the edge of the drought here. It is pushing down and we have to acknowledge that the drought that others have been experiencing and, even the recent rain that we have had in the last couple of days, does not end the drought.
What we are seeing is that they are trying to make a living to support their family, to keep dignity in the household, to pay the power bills, to pay the fodder bills, to pay the transport bills, to deal with the other associated issues, to deal with what happens in the town. A town like Broken Hill now has to also rely on the agricultural production to underpin it.
This nation, this nation, these people are a testament to this nation and the resilience and the ingenuity that goes into creating a product that the world wants. Out of that comes something that South East Asia wants to eat – that we know does moral good, that is - feeds people.
Of course if a drought goes over an extended period; it doesn’t matter how you cut it or dice it when there is no more feed – there is no more feed. When the water runs out – the water runs out. These people have used their resources as much as they possibly can. They have not fallen on the lap of the Government. They have done everything they possibly can. We know once they are up and running again that they will deliver back to our nation in spades and that is a good thing.
So it’s great to be here, it’s great to have this opportunity to take the Prime Minister here. Thank you so much Sussan also for getting us here.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you. Ok.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, just regarding low interest loans, is it possible that in the long-term that actually wouldn’t have any impact on the Budget given that the loans have to be paid off and so on?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, one of the issues that we’ve got on our plate at the moment is this whole question of concessional loans. The former government put concessional loans in place to help farmers to deal with the government created catastrophe of the live cattle cancellation. These loans have now been adapted by Barnaby in the early months of our Government to help with the drought and we’re looking at what more can be done in this area.
QUESTION:
Are the reports in The Australian accurate as to the $280 million increase to the Budget for the farm finance package and The Australian’s reporting you’re taking this package to Cabinet? Is that accurate?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’m not going to comment on the specific details of what might ultimately be decided, but the two issues that we need to grapple with are first of all ensuring that people actually have money to live on in the next day, or week, or month; and second, ensuring that these businesses have the assistance that they need to restructure so that they can get back on their feet and prosper in the years ahead. So, there’s a very short-term problem and then there’s a slightly longer term problem; there’s the immediate income needs that people have got to live and then there’s the reconstruction after the drought for people who’ve been very badly damaged. The package that we announce will deal with both of these issues.
QUESTION:
In terms of the quantum, are we talking a billion dollars and are we talking many government agencies chipping into this?
PRIME MINISTER:
Again, I’m just not going to get into the specifics but we will have a strong, responsible and fair response to this and it’s going to be sooner rather than later.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, you mention about the fair and reasonable response and the need to have a dynamic rural economy and today you said one in 20 or one in 50 drought events needs to be prepared for. The report by Australian Climate Scientists due out tomorrow says that these one in 20, one in 50 year events will become one in every two, maybe even every year events by mid-century. Do you accept that climate change is making extreme weather events more frequent and more intense? And secondly, would it be fair and reasonable for the Government not to take into account climate change when you’re looking at more forward planning, with all due respect to the farmers here today who are doing it tough in the immediate situation?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, if you look at the records of Australian agriculture going back 150 years there have always been good times and bad times. There have always been tough times and lush times, and farmers ought to be able to deal with the sorts of things that are expected every few years. But once you start getting into very severe events – once in 20 years, 50 years, 100 year events – that’s when I think people need some additional assistance because that’s when you start to get beyond the range of what a sensible business can be expected to plan for.
But it’s interesting that here on this property, the Cramps obviously anticipating that the drought was moving south, have been preparing themselves. It was interesting talking to the Ridges and other people in Bourke yesterday and they are well prepared, but the problem is that if the drought lasts for long enough, the best preparations eventually start to give way. That’s the difficulty - where the ordinary preparations that prudent farmers could be expected to make for the ordinary weather patterns that you’d expect, when those weather patterns become particularly extreme, when the rain deficiency becomes utterly prolonged - that’s when it becomes a natural disaster and when the Government ought to be there to lend a hand.
QUESTION:
Will some land become unviable now that the marginal lands become more marginal and some farmers will have to shift out of the industry?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, this is not a new thing in Australia. From the very beginning of settlement there have been arguments about what is the appropriate limit to farming, what is appropriate limit to grazing. I think there was something called the Goyder Line in South Australia that was devised in the 1860s, which was supposed to say what was the limit to farming in South Australia. Now, at different times people have thought the Goyder Line was too far in or too far out as the seasons have changed and climatic variation has been a constant here in Australia. Obviously, all prudent farmers need to put money aside in the good times to counter things in the bad times. That is what the vast majority of them do, but occasionally you come into a situation where the bad times are severe and prolonged – beyond anything people ought reasonably have to cope with.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, just on a national front, why is it that the tax office chose not to appeal a $900 million payout to News Corporation just after the election?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, this is something which is news to me and I’ll have to take that one on notice.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, at times like this when the Cramps, for example, are just trying to keep their head above water in times of drought. With this package that you’re devising at the moment, is now the time and will you include any preventative measures, subsidies for this station to be able to put measures in place to, you know, stave off any kind of situation in the future – another drought in five years to come?
PRIME MINISTER:
Laura, we’re not in the business of subsidising business. Business ought to be able to deal with the ordinary course of events without looking to government. What we’re talking about in many instances up and down western Queensland and New South Wales is a natural disaster. In some parts of western Queensland and northern New South Wales, we’ve got one in 100 year rainfall deficiency. That is way above the sorts of things that people ought to be expected to cope with. We do not subsidise business, but what we do do is help citizens to cope with natural disaster. That’s why there’s a world of difference between someone coming to the government and saying, “times are tough, give us a subsidy,” and someone saying, “look, this is a one in 100 year or one in 50 year event and we need something just to get us through this immediate crisis.”
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, given the financial situation that you’re in at the moment and given the issues you’re dealing with, with farmers here today, does it concern you that just after the election your Government gave $900 million through the tax office, didn’t appeal this payment. It went through to News Corporation just after the election.
PRIME MINISTER:
As I said, that question is one I’m going to have to take on notice because the facts are unknown to me.
QUESTION:
The Cramps have diversified into a farm stay; would you encourage people, farmers, to diversify into that sort of thing and Australians indeed to holiday in places like this particularly at a time of drought?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think all Australians have this sense that we have been shaped by our rural experiences. This country is almost unimaginable without the experience of rural Australia. The bush, the beach, the ANZACS – these are the iconic things that tend to shape our country. So, I think it’s great for people who are not familiar with the land to spend time on farms. I was lucky enough as a teenager to spend quite a bit of time on farms and I think it’s fantastic. I was a city person, for better or for worse, I was a city person, but I was lucky enough to have some time on farms as a teenager. So, it’s great that people like the Cramps are making it easier for non-farming families to come and spend a bit of time here on farms. I think it’s fantastic. Look, this kind of adaptability, this kind of ‘have a go’ instinct, is very much at the heart of our Australian ethos, it’s very much at the heart of the bush ethos. The Aussie farmer has survived and flourished because he or she has been prepared to have a go and good on the Cramps a) for diversifying and b) for anticipating problems down the track and for adapting to deal with them. I think that’s a very good thing.
Thank you so much.
[ends]