Drought conditions worsen in Australia
Pastor Dale Morgan
Drought conditions worsen in Australia
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NICK RALSTON
October 9, 2009 - 2:19PM
The NSW government is being urged to give drought-affected farmers some
certainty and pledge to continue support measures as conditions worsen.
Official drought figures released on Friday show that 67.6 per cent of
NSW is now drought declared, up from 65.9 per cent last month.
Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said while most of the state
received average rainfall through September, this wasn't enough to make
up for earlier dry months.
"Parts of NSW have experienced dust storms, failed crops, bone dry
paddocks and dwindling water supplies, so it's a horror set of
circumstances facing many country communities," Mr Macdonald said in a
statement.
Farmers had been relying on heavy rainfall in September for their crops
and pastures and for many it didn't occur, he said.
This had dashed hopes of a decent harvest of winter crops, he said.
The NSW government has recently announced a further $7 million in
drought assistance.
Opposition primary industries spokesman Duncan Gay said with conditions
not improving, the government must now guarantee that support and
subsidies would continue until the drought ended.
"The minister enjoys doing a press conference every couple of months
renewing this help, rather than allowing farmers to know that this help
is there to the end of the drought," Mr Gay told reporters.
A coalition government in NSW would waive fixed water charges until the
end of the drought, because farmers should not be paying for water they
were not getting, he said.
"It's just unfair to expect farmers who have been through seven to nine
years drought to be paying for water that they are not receiving," Mr
Gay said.
Under the coalition plan, farmers would pay a small premium when they
did receive the water, in exchange for not having to pay when they did not.