QFF WELCOMES ELEVATION OF DISASTER ASSISTANCE

THE Queensland Farmers’ Federation is relieved that the Federal and State Governments have today recognised the extent of the flood disaster for Queensland rural communities that started three months ago, and called on the Government to unshackle the industry from any further bureaucratic delays.

As announced today, Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA) for flood affected eligible farmers in ‘Category C’ assistance areas are elevated to ‘Category D’. This will allow farmers and small businesses access to concessional loans up to $650,000 with a grant component up to $50,000. Eligibility for these grants will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

QFF CEO Dan Galligan said this decision should in theory allow farmers across Queensland equitable access to the full suite of assistance measures under NDRRA, although bizarrely this Category D appeared different to the Category D announced for cyclone-impacted areas two weeks ago.

“It is unclear if the 13 week Employer Wage Assistance option in the Cyclone Yasi package is now available for flood areas and we will need to see this rectified.”

Mr Galligan said the next step needed for recovery would be to use people on the ground whom farmers could trust to cut red tape and help them gain access to recovery assistance appropriate to their needs, and to ensure that they were making prudent business decisions.

“We need an assistance package that can be tailored to the needs of each business, and we hope that today’s decision can be backed up by a process that allows these concessional loans to be used for issues that address the soaring overhead costs associated with flood clean up and recovery.

“NDRRA measures can open the door to large amounts of additional debt. We don’t want farmers over-burdened with debt or making hasty decisions because of the stress that comes from recovering from these massive natural disasters.

“These concessional loans are a significant positive initiative, but QFF and our industry members have presented a number of other cheaper, more immediately affective measures that continue to be ignored.

“However, it has taken too long to get to this point and it is time to move on. We will have to just work within this maddening system to bend it towards a common sense approach that supports a swift return to farm productivity.”