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AgForce warns don't scrap drought aid early

Posted December 2, 2008 09:03:00
Updated December 2, 2008 16:36:00

The rural lobby group AgForce says farmers will be left "high and dry" if Exceptional Circumstances (EC) drought assistance ends too soon.

The Productivity Commission has proposed scrapping EC arrangements as part of its inquiry into national drought policy.

Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke has made it clear that there will be no change to drought assistance for this drought.

AgForce drought coordinator Rod Saal says there needs to be adequate transitional arrangements to ensure some form of relief for farmers in need.

"They are just really talking about removing all assistance without anything to replace it, anything of substance, and we're very concerned about that," he said.

"Don't throw the baby out with the bath water, there certainly were some very important things that existed in EC.

"Some things probably didn't help a wide enough spectrum of people but we need to learn from that and see people who were getting assistance, see how it helped us keep a viable family farming sector."

Mr Saal says AgForce will aim to ensure farmers have meaningful support.

"We're not aware of any of the recommendations being ruled out, but we make the point that this is only a draft report," he said.

"The Federal Government, Minister [Tony] Burke has said that if there are any areas in drought they will not ignore them, so we're hoping that if some areas that we're concerned about need to be applied for drought assistance, then we will do that."

The Productivity Commission is holding public hearings in Brisbane today and in Roma tomorrow.

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