Support isn’t meeting farmers’ needs, says a south-west MP.
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Member for Western Victoria Simon Ramsay said struggling dairy farmers were applying for Farm Household Allowance funding to feed their families and waiting up to three months for a response.
“There needs to be a faster approval process,” Mr Ramsay said.
He said both state and federal governments needed to fast-track the eligibility assessment process together.
Dairy farmers can apply for Centrelink-administered support of up to $480 a week which Mr Ramsay said was a much more urgent support mechanism.
“Compared to the dairy concessional loans, these hardship provisions are... for those who immediately need some cash and food on the table,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the application process is so complicated and the interest in the online application is so low that many farmers in Western Victoria are unable to even access it.
“This week I learned about a dairy farmer at Swan Marsh who has been waiting three months to even get household support assistance.
“This is an intolerable situation that requires immediate action from our government.”
Mr Ramsay said he would write to the agriculture ministers about the issue because it was “ridiculous” to make applicants wait so long for support to just get by.
Mr Ramsay wants to know why Centrelink funding has been so slow and complicated and suggested alternative assistance packages might be more helpful to those in need.
“(State Agriculture) Minister (Jaala) Pulford stated that here have only been six approved applications and 62 applications out of 3000 dairy farmers here in Victoria,” he said.
“Two-thirds of which are clients of Murray Goulburn and Fonterra.”
Mr Ramsay said the delay in the household assistance package through Centrelink is causing more heartache for dairy farmers than the much-talked about concessional loans.
“I question if the bar for eligibility is too high.”