SEQ must not overshadow the regional recovery.

RECOVERY is the word on everyone’s lips this week and in some cases it is relevant for some communities as the opportunity to rebuild presents itself. For others though, the flooding has not subsided or yet another flood has arrived.

The events that have occurred in South East Queensland could threaten the focus of recovery that was previously centred on the regional areas that have been decimated by this year’s wet season. The messages from the Premier have been promising in that her and to a large extent the people within Government agencies have continued to at least discuss the needs of the regions and not solely SEQ. It must be said that almost without exception the performance of our politicians and in particular the Premier over the last couple of weeks has been superb.

But there are many things that have occurred in the south east that we can apply to other communities.

For anyone visiting Brisbane this week, at least on the surface, the clean up effort has been extraordinary. It is a testament to what can happen when Governments work together to deploy local, State and commonwealth resources while engaging community effort to get a the wheels of the local economy turning again.

The same needs to happen for our regional communities though, and the same urgency needs to be applied.

Many issues are holding up the regional recovery and a greater level of acceptance of pragmatic measures needs to occur.

We need to recognise that this is an extraordinary set of events and therefore it needs extraordinary measures to get us back on track.

QFF is working hard to get the Government to let go of existing policy paradigms. We all know transport links are the priority. But it is not just major roads, our minor road network is in tatters. Local Government authorities are already discussing the need for more machinery and people to fix this, and we would strongly support this. This should be extending to the point of resourcing farmers to get in there and fix their local roads at least to a point to allow freight movement and local traffic.

Existing financial assistance measures are being implemented but it is already apparent they will not be enough for many producers. The policy problem is that their implementation is based on regional assessment. This is a good starting point, but the impact is varied and more devastating for some industries and individuals in some parts.

For this reason QFF has been advocating for the immediate deployment of Industry Recovery officers to work with individual producers to determine what they need in their region. This work would ensure where help is already available, they receive it and where it is deficient that this information is gathered and communicated affectively to Government to ensure assistance measures can be ramped up where required. This method of assistance provision and assessment was highly affectively in the aftermath of Cyclone Larry but as yet it has received very little support from Government.

With on ground local people employed to assist and assess the needs of the local industry the real recovery effort can begin. A range of practical measures could be implemented that include assistance via a subsidy on interest payable on existing loans, an increase in the level of grants for infrastructure rebuild and the deployment of commonwealth defence resources for reconstruction.

QFF is very concerned that without immediate attention many farmers will not be in position to get their production system moving again. A lack of income and zero cash flow will lengthen the recovery time frame and for many it may see their businesses struggle for survival. The wheels are starting to turn in Brisbane again and while an enormous amount of local regional recovery work is going on, let’s hope we see the same coordinated effort from Government applied elsewhere in the State.