The NSW Government has unveiled an emergency drought relief package.

An extra $500 million will be available for embattled farmers grappling with what Premier Gladys Berejiklian has called an “unforgivably dry” set of circumstances. Faltering crops, crippling water shortages and a receding supply of fodder to preserve livestock have become the daily hallmarks of life in the bush.

Some have even been forced to shoot their cattle, as the animals succumb to starvation.

But under the new package, a drought transport subsidy scheme may bring some respite. The subsidies will cover up to 50 percent of the freight expense involved in fodder, water and livestock transportation. They will be backdated to the start of this year, bringing government’s total drought expenditure to more than $1 billion.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro says this should ease some of the burden.

“What we’re seeing here is a multitude of different costs being removed from running a farm,” he says.

“We’re switching off a lot of the costs associated with it and are wanting to put money into services to support farmers themselves.”

But Michael McLaren is calling for more.

He thinks the sovereign wealth fund created by the NSW Treasury in this year’s budget would be better spent as a drought future fund for the state. This could be put towards the capital needed to build drought-proofing infrastructure and water harvesting programs

“Why not make the sovereign wealth fund and its initial $3 billion cash injection, into a permanent drought future fund?” asks Michael.

“That way there’s a pot of money that is invested in the stock market, you grow it every year with interest, the state can add to it with lumps of cash if surpluses come in and when drought strikes, you just release the money without government having to look into their budgets.”

“It comes back to what I was saying about vision. We can’t do much about the rain. But what we can do is certainly inject an element of vision into our leadership.”

“We’re not water poor, we’re vision poor.”

The NSW Government has unveiled an emergency drought relief package.
An extra $500 million will be available for embattled farmers grappling with what Premier Gladys Berejiklian has called an &ldquo;unforgivably dry&rdquo; set of circumstances. Faltering crops, crippling water shortages and a receding supply of fodder to preserve livestock have become the daily hallmarks of life in the bush.
Some have even been forced to shoot their cattle, as the animals succumb to starvation.
But under the new package, a drought transport subsidy scheme may bring some respite. The subsidies will cover up to 50 percent of the freight expense involved in fodder, water and livestock transportation. They will be backdated to the start of this year, bringing government&rsquo;s total drought expenditure to more than $1 billion.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro says this should ease some of the burden.
&ldquo;What we&rsquo;re seeing here is a multitude of different costs being removed from running a farm,&rdquo; he says.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re switching off a lot of the costs associated with it and are wanting to put money into services to support farmers themselves.&rdquo;
But Michael McLaren is calling for more.
He thinks the sovereign wealth fund created by the NSW Treasury in this year&rsquo;s budget would be better spent as a drought future fund for the state. This could be put towards the capital needed to build drought-proofing infrastructure and water harvesting programs
&ldquo;Why not make the sovereign wealth fund and its initial $3 billion cash injection, into a permanent drought future fund?&rdquo; asks Michael.
&ldquo;That way there&rsquo;s a pot of money that is invested in the stock market, you grow it every year with interest, the state can add to it with lumps of cash if surpluses come in and when drought strikes, you just release the money without government having to look into their budgets.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It comes back to what I was saying about vision. We can&rsquo;t do much about the rain. But what we can do is certainly inject an element of vision into our leadership.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not water poor, we&rsquo;re vision poor.&rdquo;

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