No windfall for merchandise agents from fencing burst

Some $12m of state and federal money has been allocated to property syndicates to erect hundreds of kilometres of exclusion fencing in the south and central west.

“It’s not as beneficial as you might expect,” Charleville’s David Jones said. “There are 15 groups, with three or four properties each, and with the outlay on fencing, they’re not spending on other things.”

It’s a similar story for Steve Eussen at Central West Rural at Longreach, who says the extra activity has been good for turnover but not for making money.

“The corporates have made sure of that – I’ve had to cut my margins to match them, but I knew that,” he said. “No-one makes a fortune out of fencing but it’s the future prosperity of the district that I’m looking forward to.

“When there are no dogs and a lot more shearers and money in the district – that’s when we’ll benefit.”

David, who operates DJ’s Produce, thought the plan to establish a loan scheme for graziers promoted by the Longreach Regional Council, was a better way to go.

“There are a lot of angry people on the outside of these fences. I think with Longreach’s scheme, you would get more take-up and more people would get financial help.

“I think it would be fairer.”

The largest Onesteel Waratah reseller for CRT in Queensland for three years in a row, David and Karen also believe tax incentivisation needs to happen for fencing and water improvements.

“At the moment fencing is 100 per cent tax deductible in one year – why not extend it out over a number of years,” Karen said. “There’s been four years of drought and something like this would help people get back on their feet.”