29th January 2007Farmers in NSW are seeking urgent clarification on the eligibility criteria for the State Government’s $20m assistance package for southern irrigators, fearing many who planned for drought and carried over unused allocations will miss out.
The $20m extraordinary assistance package (EAP) was announced by NSW Minister for Primary Industries and Natural Resources, Ian Macdonald, last week to provide up to $50,000 to irrigators who lost water when the government slashed 52pc of carry-over and purchased water entitlements in the Murray and Murrumbidgee valleys late last year.
But the application process for accessing the assistance appears unclear and may not recognise the range of impacts suffered as a result of the water reduction.
The package announcement has also split the community into three camps – one group which is rejecting the package because it is seen as inadequate; a second lobbying for a flat dollar sum per megalitre payout for water lost; and a third keen to see entitlement holders go through the application process and have assistance allocated depending on the individual impacts.
It’s believed members of the Rural Assistance Authority have met with Department of Natural Resources staff, which developed the application criteria, to establish some clearer guidelines for administering the funds.
The NSW Farmers Association, Southern Riverina Irrigators and NSW Irrigators Council have all raised concerns about the haziness of the criteria, and are worried it is too focused on the past three year’s financial data and may not necessarily recognise those farmers who prepared for drought, and therefore appear better off “on paper”.
SOURCE: Extract from full story in the January 25 issue of The Land, NSW’s weekly rural newspaper.
