❓ The Minister for Agriculture and Food acknowledges the serious drought situation in the Wheatbelt and outlines steps being taken, including assessing the need for exceptional circumstances provisions and a state-only support package, while also highlighting ongoing communication with the federal government.
AnsweredQoN 475Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
WHEATBELT - RAINFALL
Given the serious situation in the majority of the wheatbelt due to the severe lack of rain - (1) Is the minister arranging a fallback position to assist farmers and small businesses if rain does not fall in the next few weeks? (2) Has the minister commenced discussions with the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Hon Peter McGauran, outlining the serious implications that may occur in rural Western Australia due to the drought conditions, and seeking additional financial assistance if conditions continue to deteriorate? Hon KIM CHANCE
Given the serious situation in the majority of the wheatbelt due to the severe lack of rain - (1) Is the minister arranging a fallback position to assist farmers and small businesses if rain does not fall in the next few weeks? (2) Has the minister commenced discussions with the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Hon Peter McGauran, outlining the serious implications that may occur in rural Western Australia due to the drought conditions, and seeking additional financial assistance if conditions continue to deteriorate? Hon KIM CHANCE
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(2) I thank Hon Bruce Donaldson for bringing to the attention of the house what is a very serious position, particularly in the northern wheatbelt, but also virtually anywhere north of Great Eastern Highway, and even in some areas south of Great Eastern Highway. The worst of the conditions is in the northern and north eastern wheatbelt, where some farmers are looking down the barrel of what could be their sixth year in succession of very poor conditions indeed. Particularly following last year’s disastrous conditions, this is an extremely serious situation. Today, departmental officers, along with our former colleague Dexter Davies, the chairperson of the Dry Season Advisory Committee, are in the area and are making assessments for what could result in an application to the federal government under the exceptional circumstances provisions. I think I almost know what Dexter and the departmental officers will say. My feeling about the length of time that the preparation of such an application would take is that it could be done quite quickly, because many of those areas are already covered by the exceptional circumstances provisions. Therefore, it would be effectively a roll-over, although new areas would possibly come in, and we would need to do quite a lot of scoping preparation to satisfy the commonwealth and the national drought committee that the EC provisions need to be extended. The member used the term fallback. I thought that was interesting. I am taking the term fallback to mean something beyond exceptional circumstances. I note that Hon Bruce Donaldson nodded assent to that. Yes, I am arranging a fallback position. In particular, I am considering the need for an immediate increase in the availability of counselling services. Counselling services in a circumstance such as this are rather like the first hour of medical intervention after an accident. The first hour of medical intervention often determines - if it can be provided early enough - whether the person’s life can be saved. The early stages of a dry season are rather like that, particularly when growers have not even been able to begin to recover from the disastrous season that occurred last year. The provision of counselling resources is one question. Another question is the financial assistance that might be provided through a state-only package rather than waiting for an exceptional circumstances package. Generally speaking, this type of assistance relates to fodder or transport subsidies, or assistance of a more direct kind. Although there are some issues about those forms of subsidy, we would want to look at, and analyse the need for, those subsidies. That is a matter on which I would expect Dexter Davies to be reporting to me in the next few days. I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
(1) Is the minister arranging a fallback position to assist farmers and small businesses if rain does not fall in the next few weeks? (2) Has the minister commenced discussions with the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Hon Peter McGauran, outlining the serious implications that may occur in rural Western Australia due to the drought conditions, and seeking additional financial assistance if conditions continue to deteriorate? Hon KIM CHANCE replied: (1)-(2) I thank Hon Bruce Donaldson for bringing to the attention of the house what is a very serious position, particularly in the northern wheatbelt, but also virtually anywhere north of Great Eastern Highway, and even in some areas south of Great Eastern Highway. The worst of the conditions is in the northern and north eastern wheatbelt, where some farmers are looking down the barrel of what could be their sixth year in succession of very poor conditions indeed. Particularly following last year’s disastrous conditions, this is an extremely serious situation. Today, departmental officers, along with our former colleague Dexter Davies, the chairperson of the Dry Season Advisory Committee, are in the area and are making assessments for what could result in an application to the federal government under the exceptional circumstances provisions. I think I almost know what Dexter and the departmental officers will say. My feeling about the length of time that the preparation of such an application would take is that it could be done quite quickly, because many of those areas are already covered by the exceptional circumstances provisions. Therefore, it would be effectively a roll-over, although new areas would possibly come in, and we would need to do quite a lot of scoping preparation to satisfy the commonwealth and the national drought committee that the EC provisions need to be extended. The member used the term fallback. I thought that was interesting. I am taking the term fallback to mean something beyond exceptional circumstances. I note that Hon Bruce Donaldson nodded assent to that. Yes, I am arranging a fallback position. In particular, I am considering the need for an immediate increase in the availability of counselling services. Counselling services in a circumstance such as this are rather like the first hour of medical intervention after an accident. The first hour of medical intervention often determines - if it can be provided early enough - whether the person’s life can be saved. The early stages of a dry season are rather like that, particularly when growers have not even been able to begin to recover from the disastrous season that occurred last year. The provision of counselling resources is one question. Another question is the financial assistance that might be provided through a state-only package rather than waiting for an exceptional circumstances package. Generally speaking, this type of assistance relates to fodder or transport subsidies, or assistance of a more direct kind. Although there are some issues about those forms of subsidy, we would want to look at, and analyse the need for, those subsidies. That is a matter on which I would expect Dexter Davies to be reporting to me in the next few days. I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
(2) Has the minister commenced discussions with the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Hon Peter McGauran, outlining the serious implications that may occur in rural Western Australia due to the drought conditions, and seeking additional financial assistance if conditions continue to deteriorate? Hon KIM CHANCE replied: (1)-(2) I thank Hon Bruce Donaldson for bringing to the attention of the house what is a very serious position, particularly in the northern wheatbelt, but also virtually anywhere north of Great Eastern Highway, and even in some areas south of Great Eastern Highway. The worst of the conditions is in the northern and north eastern wheatbelt, where some farmers are looking down the barrel of what could be their sixth year in succession of very poor conditions indeed. Particularly following last year’s disastrous conditions, this is an extremely serious situation. Today, departmental officers, along with our former colleague Dexter Davies, the chairperson of the Dry Season Advisory Committee, are in the area and are making assessments for what could result in an application to the federal government under the exceptional circumstances provisions. I think I almost know what Dexter and the departmental officers will say. My feeling about the length of time that the preparation of such an application would take is that it could be done quite quickly, because many of those areas are already covered by the exceptional circumstances provisions. Therefore, it would be effectively a roll-over, although new areas would possibly come in, and we would need to do quite a lot of scoping preparation to satisfy the commonwealth and the national drought committee that the EC provisions need to be extended. The member used the term fallback. I thought that was interesting. I am taking the term fallback to mean something beyond exceptional circumstances. I note that Hon Bruce Donaldson nodded assent to that. Yes, I am arranging a fallback position. In particular, I am considering the need for an immediate increase in the availability of counselling services. Counselling services in a circumstance such as this are rather like the first hour of medical intervention after an accident. The first hour of medical intervention often determines - if it can be provided early enough - whether the person’s life can be saved. The early stages of a dry season are rather like that, particularly when growers have not even been able to begin to recover from the disastrous season that occurred last year. The provision of counselling resources is one question. Another question is the financial assistance that might be provided through a state-only package rather than waiting for an exceptional circumstances package. Generally speaking, this type of assistance relates to fodder or transport subsidies, or assistance of a more direct kind. Although there are some issues about those forms of subsidy, we would want to look at, and analyse the need for, those subsidies. That is a matter on which I would expect Dexter Davies to be reporting to me in the next few days. I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
Hon KIM CHANCE replied: (1)-(2) I thank Hon Bruce Donaldson for bringing to the attention of the house what is a very serious position, particularly in the northern wheatbelt, but also virtually anywhere north of Great Eastern Highway, and even in some areas south of Great Eastern Highway. The worst of the conditions is in the northern and north eastern wheatbelt, where some farmers are looking down the barrel of what could be their sixth year in succession of very poor conditions indeed. Particularly following last year’s disastrous conditions, this is an extremely serious situation. Today, departmental officers, along with our former colleague Dexter Davies, the chairperson of the Dry Season Advisory Committee, are in the area and are making assessments for what could result in an application to the federal government under the exceptional circumstances provisions. I think I almost know what Dexter and the departmental officers will say. My feeling about the length of time that the preparation of such an application would take is that it could be done quite quickly, because many of those areas are already covered by the exceptional circumstances provisions. Therefore, it would be effectively a roll-over, although new areas would possibly come in, and we would need to do quite a lot of scoping preparation to satisfy the commonwealth and the national drought committee that the EC provisions need to be extended. The member used the term fallback. I thought that was interesting. I am taking the term fallback to mean something beyond exceptional circumstances. I note that Hon Bruce Donaldson nodded assent to that. Yes, I am arranging a fallback position. In particular, I am considering the need for an immediate increase in the availability of counselling services. Counselling services in a circumstance such as this are rather like the first hour of medical intervention after an accident. The first hour of medical intervention often determines - if it can be provided early enough - whether the person’s life can be saved. The early stages of a dry season are rather like that, particularly when growers have not even been able to begin to recover from the disastrous season that occurred last year. The provision of counselling resources is one question. Another question is the financial assistance that might be provided through a state-only package rather than waiting for an exceptional circumstances package. Generally speaking, this type of assistance relates to fodder or transport subsidies, or assistance of a more direct kind. Although there are some issues about those forms of subsidy, we would want to look at, and analyse the need for, those subsidies. That is a matter on which I would expect Dexter Davies to be reporting to me in the next few days. I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
(1)-(2) I thank Hon Bruce Donaldson for bringing to the attention of the house what is a very serious position, particularly in the northern wheatbelt, but also virtually anywhere north of Great Eastern Highway, and even in some areas south of Great Eastern Highway. The worst of the conditions is in the northern and north eastern wheatbelt, where some farmers are looking down the barrel of what could be their sixth year in succession of very poor conditions indeed. Particularly following last year’s disastrous conditions, this is an extremely serious situation. Today, departmental officers, along with our former colleague Dexter Davies, the chairperson of the Dry Season Advisory Committee, are in the area and are making assessments for what could result in an application to the federal government under the exceptional circumstances provisions. I think I almost know what Dexter and the departmental officers will say. My feeling about the length of time that the preparation of such an application would take is that it could be done quite quickly, because many of those areas are already covered by the exceptional circumstances provisions. Therefore, it would be effectively a roll-over, although new areas would possibly come in, and we would need to do quite a lot of scoping preparation to satisfy the commonwealth and the national drought committee that the EC provisions need to be extended. The member used the term fallback. I thought that was interesting. I am taking the term fallback to mean something beyond exceptional circumstances. I note that Hon Bruce Donaldson nodded assent to that. Yes, I am arranging a fallback position. In particular, I am considering the need for an immediate increase in the availability of counselling services. Counselling services in a circumstance such as this are rather like the first hour of medical intervention after an accident. The first hour of medical intervention often determines - if it can be provided early enough - whether the person’s life can be saved. The early stages of a dry season are rather like that, particularly when growers have not even been able to begin to recover from the disastrous season that occurred last year. The provision of counselling resources is one question. Another question is the financial assistance that might be provided through a state-only package rather than waiting for an exceptional circumstances package. Generally speaking, this type of assistance relates to fodder or transport subsidies, or assistance of a more direct kind. Although there are some issues about those forms of subsidy, we would want to look at, and analyse the need for, those subsidies. That is a matter on which I would expect Dexter Davies to be reporting to me in the next few days. I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
(1) Is the minister arranging a fallback position to assist farmers and small businesses if rain does not fall in the next few weeks? (2) Has the minister commenced discussions with the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Hon Peter McGauran, outlining the serious implications that may occur in rural Western Australia due to the drought conditions, and seeking additional financial assistance if conditions continue to deteriorate? Hon KIM CHANCE replied: (1)-(2) I thank Hon Bruce Donaldson for bringing to the attention of the house what is a very serious position, particularly in the northern wheatbelt, but also virtually anywhere north of Great Eastern Highway, and even in some areas south of Great Eastern Highway. The worst of the conditions is in the northern and north eastern wheatbelt, where some farmers are looking down the barrel of what could be their sixth year in succession of very poor conditions indeed. Particularly following last year’s disastrous conditions, this is an extremely serious situation. Today, departmental officers, along with our former colleague Dexter Davies, the chairperson of the Dry Season Advisory Committee, are in the area and are making assessments for what could result in an application to the federal government under the exceptional circumstances provisions. I think I almost know what Dexter and the departmental officers will say. My feeling about the length of time that the preparation of such an application would take is that it could be done quite quickly, because many of those areas are already covered by the exceptional circumstances provisions. Therefore, it would be effectively a roll-over, although new areas would possibly come in, and we would need to do quite a lot of scoping preparation to satisfy the commonwealth and the national drought committee that the EC provisions need to be extended. The member used the term fallback. I thought that was interesting. I am taking the term fallback to mean something beyond exceptional circumstances. I note that Hon Bruce Donaldson nodded assent to that. Yes, I am arranging a fallback position. In particular, I am considering the need for an immediate increase in the availability of counselling services. Counselling services in a circumstance such as this are rather like the first hour of medical intervention after an accident. The first hour of medical intervention often determines - if it can be provided early enough - whether the person’s life can be saved. The early stages of a dry season are rather like that, particularly when growers have not even been able to begin to recover from the disastrous season that occurred last year. The provision of counselling resources is one question. Another question is the financial assistance that might be provided through a state-only package rather than waiting for an exceptional circumstances package. Generally speaking, this type of assistance relates to fodder or transport subsidies, or assistance of a more direct kind. Although there are some issues about those forms of subsidy, we would want to look at, and analyse the need for, those subsidies. That is a matter on which I would expect Dexter Davies to be reporting to me in the next few days. I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
(2) Has the minister commenced discussions with the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Hon Peter McGauran, outlining the serious implications that may occur in rural Western Australia due to the drought conditions, and seeking additional financial assistance if conditions continue to deteriorate? Hon KIM CHANCE replied: (1)-(2) I thank Hon Bruce Donaldson for bringing to the attention of the house what is a very serious position, particularly in the northern wheatbelt, but also virtually anywhere north of Great Eastern Highway, and even in some areas south of Great Eastern Highway. The worst of the conditions is in the northern and north eastern wheatbelt, where some farmers are looking down the barrel of what could be their sixth year in succession of very poor conditions indeed. Particularly following last year’s disastrous conditions, this is an extremely serious situation. Today, departmental officers, along with our former colleague Dexter Davies, the chairperson of the Dry Season Advisory Committee, are in the area and are making assessments for what could result in an application to the federal government under the exceptional circumstances provisions. I think I almost know what Dexter and the departmental officers will say. My feeling about the length of time that the preparation of such an application would take is that it could be done quite quickly, because many of those areas are already covered by the exceptional circumstances provisions. Therefore, it would be effectively a roll-over, although new areas would possibly come in, and we would need to do quite a lot of scoping preparation to satisfy the commonwealth and the national drought committee that the EC provisions need to be extended. The member used the term fallback. I thought that was interesting. I am taking the term fallback to mean something beyond exceptional circumstances. I note that Hon Bruce Donaldson nodded assent to that. Yes, I am arranging a fallback position. In particular, I am considering the need for an immediate increase in the availability of counselling services. Counselling services in a circumstance such as this are rather like the first hour of medical intervention after an accident. The first hour of medical intervention often determines - if it can be provided early enough - whether the person’s life can be saved. The early stages of a dry season are rather like that, particularly when growers have not even been able to begin to recover from the disastrous season that occurred last year. The provision of counselling resources is one question. Another question is the financial assistance that might be provided through a state-only package rather than waiting for an exceptional circumstances package. Generally speaking, this type of assistance relates to fodder or transport subsidies, or assistance of a more direct kind. Although there are some issues about those forms of subsidy, we would want to look at, and analyse the need for, those subsidies. That is a matter on which I would expect Dexter Davies to be reporting to me in the next few days. I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
Hon KIM CHANCE replied: (1)-(2) I thank Hon Bruce Donaldson for bringing to the attention of the house what is a very serious position, particularly in the northern wheatbelt, but also virtually anywhere north of Great Eastern Highway, and even in some areas south of Great Eastern Highway. The worst of the conditions is in the northern and north eastern wheatbelt, where some farmers are looking down the barrel of what could be their sixth year in succession of very poor conditions indeed. Particularly following last year’s disastrous conditions, this is an extremely serious situation. Today, departmental officers, along with our former colleague Dexter Davies, the chairperson of the Dry Season Advisory Committee, are in the area and are making assessments for what could result in an application to the federal government under the exceptional circumstances provisions. I think I almost know what Dexter and the departmental officers will say. My feeling about the length of time that the preparation of such an application would take is that it could be done quite quickly, because many of those areas are already covered by the exceptional circumstances provisions. Therefore, it would be effectively a roll-over, although new areas would possibly come in, and we would need to do quite a lot of scoping preparation to satisfy the commonwealth and the national drought committee that the EC provisions need to be extended. The member used the term fallback. I thought that was interesting. I am taking the term fallback to mean something beyond exceptional circumstances. I note that Hon Bruce Donaldson nodded assent to that. Yes, I am arranging a fallback position. In particular, I am considering the need for an immediate increase in the availability of counselling services. Counselling services in a circumstance such as this are rather like the first hour of medical intervention after an accident. The first hour of medical intervention often determines - if it can be provided early enough - whether the person’s life can be saved. The early stages of a dry season are rather like that, particularly when growers have not even been able to begin to recover from the disastrous season that occurred last year. The provision of counselling resources is one question. Another question is the financial assistance that might be provided through a state-only package rather than waiting for an exceptional circumstances package. Generally speaking, this type of assistance relates to fodder or transport subsidies, or assistance of a more direct kind. Although there are some issues about those forms of subsidy, we would want to look at, and analyse the need for, those subsidies. That is a matter on which I would expect Dexter Davies to be reporting to me in the next few days. I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
(1)-(2) I thank Hon Bruce Donaldson for bringing to the attention of the house what is a very serious position, particularly in the northern wheatbelt, but also virtually anywhere north of Great Eastern Highway, and even in some areas south of Great Eastern Highway. The worst of the conditions is in the northern and north eastern wheatbelt, where some farmers are looking down the barrel of what could be their sixth year in succession of very poor conditions indeed. Particularly following last year’s disastrous conditions, this is an extremely serious situation. Today, departmental officers, along with our former colleague Dexter Davies, the chairperson of the Dry Season Advisory Committee, are in the area and are making assessments for what could result in an application to the federal government under the exceptional circumstances provisions. I think I almost know what Dexter and the departmental officers will say. My feeling about the length of time that the preparation of such an application would take is that it could be done quite quickly, because many of those areas are already covered by the exceptional circumstances provisions. Therefore, it would be effectively a roll-over, although new areas would possibly come in, and we would need to do quite a lot of scoping preparation to satisfy the commonwealth and the national drought committee that the EC provisions need to be extended. The member used the term fallback. I thought that was interesting. I am taking the term fallback to mean something beyond exceptional circumstances. I note that Hon Bruce Donaldson nodded assent to that. Yes, I am arranging a fallback position. In particular, I am considering the need for an immediate increase in the availability of counselling services. Counselling services in a circumstance such as this are rather like the first hour of medical intervention after an accident. The first hour of medical intervention often determines - if it can be provided early enough - whether the person’s life can be saved. The early stages of a dry season are rather like that, particularly when growers have not even been able to begin to recover from the disastrous season that occurred last year. The provision of counselling resources is one question. Another question is the financial assistance that might be provided through a state-only package rather than waiting for an exceptional circumstances package. Generally speaking, this type of assistance relates to fodder or transport subsidies, or assistance of a more direct kind. Although there are some issues about those forms of subsidy, we would want to look at, and analyse the need for, those subsidies. That is a matter on which I would expect Dexter Davies to be reporting to me in the next few days. I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
I will be going into the northern wheatbelt area myself next week. I have spoken to the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but not directly about the current situation. My discussions with Minister McGauran are longer standing and are about the progress of exceptional circumstances conditions in the northern wheatbelt area. I have not spoken to Minister McGauran about this matter in the past couple of months. However, our discussions on that have been ongoing. Our relationship with the commonwealth government in matters like this is now a well-understood and fairly smooth process. The days when we had differences of opinion with the commonwealth on this issue are long gone. Since Peter McGauran has been the federal minister we have had a much smoother and stronger relationship. That has come from practice and learning the way in which each other does business. I believe that, hopefully, prevented by the intervention of substantial rain, we will be able to put a case together and put it in place very quickly. I hope rain will intervene and make all that work unnecessary.
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