THE severity of Queensland's drought and farm debt crisis has brought two unlikely political foes together in a show of rare solidarity to help financially stricken producers.
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Newly installed Federal Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and his state counterpart John McVeigh have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in Emerald this morning to announce $60 million in concessional loans for cash-strapped producers.
Queensland is the first state in Australia to sign up to the Rudd Government's Farm Finance package, with the same figure on the table for other states.
The money will only be enough to provide about 150 producers with the full $650,000 entitlement.
Mr Fitzgibbon, who has only been in the job 10 days since replacing Senator Joe Ludwig, said resolving the financial challenges of Northern Australia was his number one priority, not scoring political points against Labor's LNP rivals as the federal election contest intensifies.
"There is no room in agriculture for political differences," he said.
"We cannot afford bickering, we need to work in cooperation."
The federal scheme comes as drought continues to bite deeper across the state's inland and economic challenges further erode the financial position of landholders across both grazing and farming sectors.
In a joint statement with Mr McVeigh, Mr Fitzgibbon said the initiative would provide assistance to eligible farm businesses in the form of low interest loans to assist with debt restructuring.
"Under the program, farmers could save up to $81,000 in interest repayments over the five-year concessional period," he said.
"Reducing debt repayments in the short-term will help alleviate the pressure on farmers and provide them with breathing room to continue to run their businesses and support their families."
Mr McVeigh said the package was urgently required for producers struggling to service debt after being hammered by drought, floods and market issues.
"Eligible producers will be able to apply for loans up to $650,000 with a variable interest rate starting at 4.5 percent," he said.
"While the federal scheme loans were announced for productivity and debt reconstruction, in Queensland it will be entirely for debt restructuring. We negotiated for this package to be available entirely for debt restructuring, and the Federal Government has agreed."
Mr McVeigh said the package would assist about 100 to 150 viable producers with temporary debt financing difficulties.
"The assistance package is now more critical than ever, with many producers still suffering the effects of Tropical Cyclone Oswald and more than 44 per cent of the western and northern parts of the state now in drought," he said.
"QRAA is now in the process of finalising the application guidelines with the Federal Government so it can roll out the concessional loan scheme as quickly as possible."
AgForce president Ian Burnett welcomed agreement on the scheme and said it would be of significant assistance to those farmers managing challenging circumstances.
"Added to the other concessional loans currently available, these debt reconstruction loans will help those producers who are viable in the long term to transition through some serious short term debt servicing difficulties," Mr Burnett said.
Mr Fitzgibbon said Queensland was the first state to sign on and take advantage of the scheme.
"Reaching agreements with all states and the Northern Territory is a high priority for the Australian Government," he said.
