Farm, fish and forestry businesses in fire-affected regions will get the help they need to rebuild with an initial $100 million in emergency bushfire funding, which will be made available following agreement with relevant state governments.
\nPrime Minister Scott Morrison said the Government would provide up to $75,000 in grants for farming businesses in fire-affected regions, with the funding administered by each state government.
\n\u201cWe will do whatever it takes to support those communities and businesses hit by these fires, and if we need to do more, we will,\u201d the Prime Minister said.
\n\u201cI need to stress this is an uncapped program so if demand for support goes above $100 million, money will continue to flow.
\n\u201cAs the scale of the damage becomes apparent, it is clear that our farm, our fish and forest businesses need support and along with communities who depend on them, we will help them rebuild and we will continue to back them.
\n\u201cThis funding will support primary producers to access essentials like fodder and water, while also help rebuild fencing or hire vital agricultural equipment like water pumps, irrigation systems, horticultural netting and generators.\u201d
\nThis funding is in addition to the extensive work being undertaken by the Australian Defence Force, clearing roads and properties and helping communities rebuild.
\nThe Morrison Government will also provide $15 million to fund 60 additional rural financial counsellors and support workers.
\nAlready the Rural Financial Counselling Service is on the ground providing free financial counselling to our farmers in times of need with now approximately 180 counsellors located within key agricultural communities across Australia.
\nMinister for Agriculture Bridget McKenzie said so many rural businesses had been hard hit by the bushfires and they were now looking at how they could rebuild.
\n\u201cRural and regional communities particularly across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have been hit hard by the bushfires and we will continue to work together to support all those Australians whose livelihoods have been devastated by these fires,\u201d Minister McKenzie said.
\n\u201cThis funding could help pay for tradespeople to conduct farm safety inspections, for veterinary fees, waste disposal and to repair any damaged property.
\n\u201cOur farmers, fishers and foresters have been hit extremely hard by these terrible fires. I\u2019ve seen firsthand, farmers who have left their properties to fight fires.
\n\u201cOur farmers are resilient and very generous putting themselves on the line for their friends and neighbours.
\n\u201cThese grants of up to $75,000 will help get them the equipment they need to start rebuilding.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re working closely with farming groups to develop specific industry recovery plans.\u201d
\nMinister for Natural Disaster and Emergency Management David Littleproud said the grants were designed to make sure farmers are equipped to get the job done.
\n\u201cWe are working with the states to get these funds to farmers as quickly as possible under existing Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements,\u201d Minister Littleproud said.
\nAs with the grants for the North Queensland floods in early 2019, funds under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangement will be made available to state governments of impacted communities, on request, for delivery through their relevant state disaster response agency.
\n\u201cThis is critical support for primary producers to meet their immediate needs in getting their agriculture businesses back up and running where those needs are not covered under existing insurance policies,\u201d Minister Littleproud said.
\n\u201cPrimary producers from farmers and fishers to private foresters and beekeepers will all be eligible to apply under the extended definition of primary producers in the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.\u201d
\nFarmers who have been tackling the drought and have off-farm income won\u2019t be disadvantaged, the same off-farm income rules for Farm Household Allowance will apply. This means farmers that aren\u2019t eligible for Category C payments due to off-farm income rules will still be eligible for up to $75,000 to help them normalise their farm businesses as quickly as possible.
\nFunding will be available through the Emergency Bushfire Response in Primary Industries Grants Program.
\nThis assistance will be provided through a joint Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangement between states and territories and the Commonwealth Government.
\nFurther details will be announced as soon as state-based delivery arrangements are confirmed.
\nThis initiative forms part of $2 billion commitment the Morrison Government has made to address the impact of the recent bushfires.
\nFor more information on the Emergency Bushfire Response in Primary Industries Grants Program please contact 1800 900 090.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Farm, fish and forestry businesses in fire-affected regions will get the help they need to rebuild with an initial $100 million in emergency bushfire funding, which will be made available following agreement with relevant state governments. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Government would provide up to $75,000 in grants for farming businesses in fire-affected … Continue reading “Initial $100 million bushfire emergency support for primary producers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}