The Prime Minister begins a drought tour this week and the Hunter should be on his itinerary.
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On May 3, 2013, the Commonwealth and the states and territories entered into a new COAG agreement on drought policy. The Intergovernmental Agreement on National Drought Reform enjoyed the unanimous support of the nine governments as well as the National Farmers’ Federation. It was, in part, driven by a 2009 Productivity Commission (PC) inquiry into drought policy. It found that in 2007-08, 23 per cent of Australia’s 143,000 farms received drought assistance of more than $1 billion.
The PC argued that former Exceptional Circumstance (EC) declarations and related drought assistance programs did “not help farmers improve their self-reliance, preparedness and climate change management”. It concluded: “the EC declaration process is inequitable and unnecessary”. State and territory governments agreed a new approach was needed. Five objectives were agreed:
- Assist farm families and primary producers adapt to and prepare for the impacts of increased climate variability;
- Encourage farm families and primary producers to adopt self-reliant approaches to manage business risks;
- Ensure families in hardship have access to a support payment that recognises the special circumstances of farmers;
- Ensure that social support services are accessible to farm families; and,
- Provide a framework for jurisdictions’ responses during periods of drought.
Clause 17 of the agreement states: parties will report against their roles and responsibilities in this agreement and their implementation plans annually during the operation of the agreement. Reports are to be provided for Primary Industries Standing Committee (PISC) and Standing Council on Primary Industries (SCoPI) meetings.
The Coalition won office four months later. One of its first acts was to abolish SCoPI and the PISC, two key COAG committees. The Intergovernmental Agreement will expire on July 1, 2018. Next to no work has been done on a new agreement.
Farmers on Farm Household Support (unemployment benefit for farmers) are near the end of a three-year period of assistance. What will drought-affected farmers do now? The Turnbull government says they should apply for a concessional loan. But more debt is simply not an option for most.
To be fair, the government has improved a tax scheme which encourages farmers to put money away for tough times. It enhanced accelerated depreciation arrangements for farmers investing in water infrastructure. But neither scheme helps farmers who have no money to invest or save.
The COAG process must be restored. Its abolition was a terrible mistake. Only then can we put drought policy back on track. Drought can no longer be viewed as an “abnormal event”. The focus for policy makers and farm leadership groups must be helping farmers build resilience. Tax concessions for drought proofing will no doubt remain part of the plan. So too will income support.
The foundation for any drought policy must be adaptation and the embrace of better natural resource management practices. More market-based programs are needed to incentivise a focus on soil health, water efficiency and carbon abatement.
Of course, you can’t expect a government to act on a changing climate if it doesn’t believe the climate is changing. Drought-affected Hunter farmers would welcome that recognition as an important first step.
