HOUSEHOLD support and freight rebates will be among the list of drought assistance measures up for discussion at a meeting in Narrabri next Friday, February 14.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Narrabri farmer Phillip Kirkby said a north west drought committee convened in 2003 had been “revived” in an effort to lobby governments about the increasingly desperate plight of the region’s farmers.
Mr Kirkby is on a property east of Narrabri and said in his 42 years there, the current conditions were the worst he’d seen.
He said they would be asking member for New England and agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce to attend, and former New England MP Tony Windsor would be in attendance.
Mr Kirkby said the committee had flagged a number of support measures they wanted governments to consider, including financial assistance to help keep farm households functioning, freight rebates and subsidies to help with the sinking of bores.
“They keep talking about drought preparedness so something like (subsidies for new bores) would really help with that,” Mr Kirkby said.
Everyone is invited to the meeting, which is at the Narrabri RSL Club starting at 11am.