Drought Assistance

Drought Assistance

14 May 2025

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (12:46): It gives me great pleasure, but also sadness, to speak on this motion. I thank the member for Hammond and I also thank the member for Light for his amendments. I am going to play the middle road and say they both have good motions here, but one of the things I will highlight is: why are we talking about this in regard to the toughness out there in the regional areas of South Australia?

This is a financial crisis out there in our regions. It is not just a 12-month period and it is not just a dry period; this extends from a collapse of commodity prices that started in 2023, in about June, when we saw lamb, beef and mutton collapse and correct by over 70 per cent from the heyday and the prices we saw prior to this period. We have seen a number of seasons since then that have made it even harder for rural businesses to cope.

You have to then add what everyone is suffering in Australia: a cost-of-living problem. What does that have to do with farming? There are inflationary problems that have occurred since 2023 and, really, since COVID that have made it much more expensive to be in business compared to what it used to be. We have not seen prices for our commodities on the world market to cover those extra costs and we are wondering why we are finding it so hard to be financially viable in these tougher times.

My electorate of MacKillop extends from some very high-rainfall areas down towards Mount Gambier—but not Mount Gambier—all the way up to Pinnaroo, Lameroo and Tailem Bend, and they have all suffered in this dry period. There are areas in the Limestone Coast area of MacKillop that are on record levels of non-existent rain; in other words, they are depleted, rain has not fallen and it is a record dry period. It has been described in maps of red, but where that red is darkest is record territory for landowners.

With that acknowledgement of how tough and dry it is, what can we say and what can we do? All I would say is that I thank the government for, first of all, recognising this dry period. I would think that it is not just a state government issue, though. I wonder why the federal government is not mentioned here because this really does come back to a lack of income. I can tell you that we do not have a tax problem anymore in the regional areas, because you have to have a profit. The federal government will be missing out on revenue because we are not paying tax because of the losses that are being incurred right across areas like MacKillop and elsewhere in regional South Australia.

One of the things that I would ask be given due consideration is: how do we actually help people financially when things fail? We have heard from the member for Hammond about how people are outlaying $1 million to put their crops in on the wish and the dream that it may rain and it might give them a crop, and they have do to it to be in business—come a good spring, come a good winter and a good harvest.

If they do not put in the million dollar crop, they cannot participate in that outcome. The problem with that is that million dollar outlay does not have a guarantee towards rainfall and it does not have a guarantee that they will be harvesting a crop in October, November or December. That is the risk that the agricultural sector finds itself in.

I have just explained that we had a commodity collapse in 2023 and we have seen hyperinflation and costs go exorbitantly high. We are now seeing dry periods with record rainfall deficiencies right across the regions, not only in the area of MacKillop but right across the southern region. Actually, I will extend it: I know it is an area from Melbourne to Perth on the Mediterranean southern winter rainfall. It has been deficient in that area. There have been some pockets that are okay in Western Australia but in general it has been really tough.

It has been exemplified by the technology that is out there. The crops that were harvested last harvest actually indicate the developments we have made. As the member for Hammond described, had we been through this dry period that we have just been through during the seventies and eighties, we probably would have seen record dust storms and the tillering that used to take place during the summer to maintain weed control. That does not happen anymore.

I also thank the government. I know that the supports that they put in such as Rural Business Support and Rural Financial Counsellors are absolutely beneficial in this area. I am already hearing around the football fields from locals that farmers are so busy feeding, working, cannot find staff, cannot afford staff, that they are not participating like they used to. They are becoming introverted in their stresses and worries. These are dangerous times, times when we have to be very much cognisant. I want all rural families and people to reach out to make sure that people are engaging, they are communicating and they are getting together at those normal sporting events on Saturdays and the like.

I mention an interesting reach out by a lady named Mrs Linda Cameron from Bairnsdale, East Gippsland. Most recently, she travelled from East Bairnsdale towards Robe in my electorate. She had made 11 boiled pineapple fruitcakes and dropped them off at mailboxes on the way. One of the McBride properties was lucky enough to receive one of these boiled fruitcakes. It was a kind gesture from a regional mother, I would imagine, from Bairnsdale understanding the toughness of dry periods and reaching out to say, 'We do care. We appreciate everything you are doing. These are tough times that we all have to work through.'

I also want to highlight the cost and severity of this drought. When I belonged to a business called A.J. & P.A. McBride I saw that the cost is exemplified by the size of this business. On a weekly basis they are feeding out 400 tonnes of barley per week on these southern properties, costing $160,000 a week until it rains and there is actually grass. These funds that we are spending we are not making; they are adding to our losses in the financial year that we are in and it will probably make it even tougher for the financial year we are moving towards in 2025-26.

They are serious figures. They are across the board. We are not alone in this. Livestock producers are all going through that pain. It is something you have to maintain or you sell. If you sell then you do not have anything to feed but then you have to buy back. You then take the risk of what that buyback price is and normally it is exorbitantly high, so you usually maintain a nucleus breeding flock to make sure you do have a flock to go into what hopefully will be a good winter. We do not even know. Winter is in June, which is less than a month away, and it still has not rained significantly or properly right across this state. Some areas have received some showers and there are some green pockets, but in general it is really tight and tough out there.

I thank the member for Hammond and I thank the member for Light. I am going to leave a couple of minutes up my sleeve to allow the member for Flinders to have his say. I hope in this place and federally it is recognised that these are tough times and I hope that everyone in this chamber realises the severity of what is going on out there.

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