Minister won't budge on water rebate criteria

Under the current criteria, landholders who run any agistment cattle aren’t eligible for drought assistance while those who lease their properties can access the full 50pc rebate.

AgForce CEO, Charles Burke, has labelled the criteria as “pedantic” and said the exclusion of landholders with agistment cattle on their properties went against what the Drought Relief Assistance Scheme (DRAS) was established for.

“Whether the cattle are agistment cattle or owned by the property owner, the key fundaments of DRAS is to provide emergency water infrastructure for livestock,” he said.

“We have said all along that this was essentially a bureaucratic definition that didn’t have any regard for the practicalities of what DRAS is trying to deliver.”

In a statement to Queensland Country Life, Mr McVeigh said DRAS was intended to help livestock owners with animal welfare and to maintain core breeding herds during drought.

“I acknowledge approaches to me on this issue from producers across the state and from AgForce,” he said.

“But to remain consistent with the animal welfare objectives of the DRAS scheme, and to ensure limited taxpayers’ dollars that are available are prioritised for that purpose, I am not considering access for the Water Infrastructure Scheme for agistment.

“For the very same reasons, I am not considering either to add dam-sinking or de-silting costs.

“Again, the fundamental objectives of the DRAS scheme are to meet immediate animal welfare needs through the application of limited taxpayer’ funds.”

Mr McVeigh said the owners of agisted cattle had the option of moving livestock from a property without water or to bring them back to their own property.

“The property on which the agisted livestock are based can draw an income from having the agisted cattle there,” he said.

“That income could be used to fund water infrastructure.”

Mr McVeigh’s argument is unlikely to please landholders like Robert and Jenny Crichton who have operated a total agistment business on their 22,000ha property, Maryvale, 50km south of Morven, for the past 13 years.

The Crichton’s opted to run an agistment business rather than lease their property to retain control of the maintenance of infrastructure such as fencing and water facilities.

Mr Crichton said running a total agistment business also provided the family with flexibility in regulation stock numbers, allowing them to implement their drought management policy when needed.

Ultimately, when the drought reached its most critical stage in January this year, it was stock water, not feed, that posed the greatest problem for the Crichtons.

“We had low Mulga and feed for the stock but the drought was so savage that we ran out of water in places - I don’t think we have experienced a water situation like that before,” he said.

“We had dams drying up everywhere and our current bore couldn’t keep up with demand from the stock.”

Mr Crichton spent $40,000 sinking a new bore 530 feet on Maryvale to provide the water security needed for the breeders agisted on his property.

“I knew we weren’t eligible for the water rebate when I put the bore down but we still had the feed so went ahead,” he said.

“I find it grossly unfair that we can’t access the rebate when others who lease properties can.

“The Emergency Water Infrastructure Rebate (EWIR) was set up to meet the immediate animal welfare needs of livestock and should not discriminate against livestock on agistment.”

Mr Crichton said if the DRAS scheme was truly about animal welfare and keeping core breeding herds alive, then the assistance should be available to those who ran agisted breeding herds.

“Some of these cows have been here for over five years,” he said.

“We meet the criteria in terms of keeping core breeding herds alive but we have an animal welfare issue relating to water availability.”

To be eligible for the EWRS landholders must: