Farmers need ‘immediate’ aid

Immediate cash and the recognition of digital technology to help assess cyclone and flood damage should be top-of-mind for insurers, according to National Farmers’ Federation CEO Tony Mahar.

Mr Mahar is part of the Agricultural National Coordination Mechanism, one of a range of NCMs or ‘round tables’ representing key industry and business groups that meet weekly with Federal Emergency Management Minister Bridget McKenzie.

Other NCMs include Supply Chain (freight, business groups, supermarkets and others), Finance (including banking and insurance companies), Trades (including builders and electricians industry representative bodies) and Community Support (including not-for-profit and mental health delivery organisations).

The round tables have been critical to identifying where disaster response and relief funding needs to be spent and how it should be allocated.

“We need immediate cash injections for people to recover, because cash flow will be affected by assets and infrastructure lost in the cyclone and floods,” Mr Mahar said.

The federal and state governments have announced a raft of funded grants available to farmers, business owners and residents in Queensland affected by Tropical Cyclone Seth and floods, and in flood-affected NSW.

Grants of up to $50,000 are available for affected primary producers following Tropical Cyclone Seth, which hit Queensland in early January, to hire or purchase equipment and materials, clean up damage and remove debris, replace fencing and other costs associated with the recovery process.

The maximum grant amount is $50,000 and is available through two applications.

An initial amount of $10,000 requires evidence of the direct damage. That evidence can be produced with photographs, video, quotations, tax invoices and official receipts. The subsequent $40,000 is available to support further claims, and is payable after receipt of payment. Applications close July 29.

Special Disaster Grants of up to $75,000 for primary producers and up to $50,000 for small businesses and not-for-profit organisations have been available through NSW Government agencies since late February. Another Special Disaster Grant of $50,000 emergency funding was available from November last year, in recognition of flooding and severe weather.

An initial $15,000 is available for farmers, with further grants available on proof of payment.

“Farmers need to remove carcases and repair pumps, fences, sheds, irrigation equipment,” eastAUS milk CEO Shaughn Morgan said.

“The $15,000 payment will help with those initial costs.

“Road damage needs to be repaired as quickly as possible, given that milk tankers and fodder relief needs access, and farmers need to move around in their own tractors and trucks. They need as much support as we can offer.

“We want to be able to retain farmers in the industry and that includes prioritising assistance to restore farms to operating as normal.”

eastAUS milk is also a member of the Agriculture NCM.

Mr Mahar said the NCM was lobbying for cooperation from all levels of government.

“We don’t want local, state and federal government to be sniping about whose responsibility road and rail repairs are. We want them to cooperate and work together,” he said.

“There also needs to be urgent assessment processes from insurers, using technology to assess damage — using photos, videos and drone footage to assess damage, rather than waiting on roads to be repaired to send out assessors.

“The clear advice from the Insurance Council is that technology can be used.”

Mr Mahar said the Agriculture NCM was also seeking cooperation from the banking sector to continue to provide flexibility to farmers around meeting loan commitments, given many primary producers have lost their immediate income source.

The Federal Government has extended funding into the Resilient Kids program, with an additional $10 million committed to programs for school-aged children in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.

Mr Morgan said eastAUS Milk was assisting dairy farmers to fill in the paperwork to apply for funding assistance.