WORK NEEDED ON FLOOD LEVY BEFORE IT CAN HOLD WATER

THE Queensland Farmers’ Federation is concerned that bureaucratic flaws are emerging in how the Federal Government’s Flood Levy will be applied, potentially making it unworkable.

The peak lobby group is also concerned that many severely flood-affected farmers will be hit with the new levy.

“To be exempt from the Flood Levy, people need to have claimed the $1000 Centrelink Disaster Recovery Payment,” QFF CEO Dan Galligan said. “Given there are farmers in Queensland who have suffered multi-million dollar losses, it is not surprising that many have not bothered with claiming these $1000 payments.

“$1000 is a drop in the bucket when it comes to their loss. Instead, they have focused on businesses assistance, including Category C assistance of up to $25,000 for their businesses.

“If that’s the case – and even if they have had absolute flood devastation – they will still be asked to pay this flood levy. I hope the government does not intend this, but that is the situation as it stands and clearly we need to fix this quickly.”

He added that it was not unusual for farmers to rely on their own resources to manage immediate income effects on their families rather than seek welfare assistance from Centrelink.

“Many farmers are also adopting an attitude that the ‘bloke down the road’ is worse off than them, even though they’ve been hit hard by the flood.

“This may not be prudent or wise, but many farmers try to avoid government agencies and just ‘get on with it’.”

Mr Galligan said there was a new risk that the government may have changed that.

“Farmers are telling us they can’t afford the levy, so there may be a blowout in applications for the $1000 Disaster Recovery Payment.

“There are plenty of people out there who have been impacted and not bothered with these payments even though they are eligible for them. This exemption could see them claim the payments because they need to avoid the extra cost of the tax.

“It is a matter of urgency that the government fixes these issues and clears up some of the confusion.”