WINTON has joined the growing chorus of people calling for urgent measures to be taken to prevent the decimation of rural communities as drought rolls relentlessly on.
The shire council last week appealed directly to the Prime Minister for assistance for graziers, small businesses and employees to manage the impact of drought.
One of the councillors driving the appeal to the country’s highest administrators is Emma Forster.
She fears an exodus from western towns as business opportunities dry up, and a knock-on effect of losses in essential services such as health and education.
“We’ll be losing local knowledge too. We can’t just sit back – we’ve got to do something before it’s too late.”
Emma has lived in the district for over 20 years and runs three properties with her husband Andrew.
One of them, Belfield has been destocked, apart from a brief period at the start of this year thanks to relief rain, since the end of 2011.
The couple are down to half their breeding herd and spent most of 2013 hand-feeding all their cattle, and had to virtually give their weaners away at the end of that time.
Despite this, she says she feels for town businesses, who are seeing their own revenue slashed by 50 per cent.
“I’m sure a lot of them are carrying country people,” she said.
Emma strongly believes Exceptional Circumstance legislation needs to be activated to manage the latest stage of ongoing drought.
“I just feel that the current policies are not helping,” she said. ”Everyone I talk to is not able to access any help.”
Emma added that even the state infrastructure grants had passed their use by date, due to the severity of the drought.
“They were designed for a one or two year dry spell. They were good if you had money to spend but we’re past that now.”
State Agriculture Minister Bill Byrne was not inclined to support the call for an Exceptional Circumstances declaration when contacted on Tuesday, saying that income support was already available via the Commonwealth Farm Household Allowance.
“This allowance does not need an Exceptional Circumstances declaration to be available – it is based on household need,” he said.
Mr Byrne said the state government was already operating a number of drought schemes that benefit those beyond the farm gate, including the Community Assistance Program worth $3.9 million, additional mental health services being rolled out with the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and the Emergency Water Infrastructure Rebate.
“These programs did not exist in previous droughts and are on top of the $18m spent this drought on freight subsidies that existed previously.”
Mr Byrne wrote to his federal counterpart Barnaby Joyce last week to ask him to provide a further top-up to the water infrastructure rebate.
“With respect to this drought and any other industry issue, we are always prepared to sensibly discuss community and small business impacts.
“Our government has committed to provide current drought assistance through to 2018 and will review its response if the current wet season fails again.”
EXCEPTIONAL circumstance or natural disaster declarations are not the answer to the financial woes plaguing drought-stricken rural communities, according to Maranoa MP Bruce Scott.
Despite describing the current circumstances facing parts of western Queensland as equal to the Federation drought at the beginning of the twentieth century, Mr Scott said legislation to bring in the sort of help an increasing number are calling for would need the agreement of states.
“That’s more bureaucracy, and we have new governments in three states. We don’t need to go there.”
Instead, Mr Scott said the Prime Minister had called on him to “bring forth ideas”, which he said he was now in the process of doing.
“Exceptional circumstances isn’t the issue, it’s what we can deliver.
“If it’s infrastructure, it has to be things that survive for a long time and deliver lasting benefits.”
He pointed to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, built during the Great Depression, as an example of what he was looking at.
He wasn’t prepared to rule anything in or out, saying whatever was suggested would need the support of other ministers and would have to be funded in a way that made a difference.
The notion of natural disaster declarations didn’t fit with the crisis facing some in his electorate either, which covered costs of rebuilding, often with insurance money supporting the effort.
“There’s no use declaring a natural disaster here – what we have is a different scenario.”