· Dairy crisis exacerbated by more rain
· Labor Government still missing in action
· Support for fighting fund, fodder, animal health and counseling should be provided
More heavy rain this week has only exacerbated the crisis facing Tasmanian dairy farmers and the urgent need for government assistance at this time.
That the government says it is still assessing what it should do, after the Treasurer said he’d seen no formal request for assistance, is bureaucratic nonsense. It can act with indecent haste when it wants to, yet well into this emergency, it is still missing in action.
We have for been calling for some time on the government to take a range of steps to help secure the long term future dairy farmers currently doing it so tough.
That includes supporting a fighting fund to help dairy farmers campaign against the low milk prices they are receiving, and the discrepancy between what they are paid for milk, and what consumers get charged.
The government needs to offer loans or subsidies for fodder to ensure farmers can afford to keep feeding their stock, and look at animal welfare assistance such as veterinary help.
There should be the provision of more resources for counselling. The drought taskforce needs to be reconfigured and urgently redeployed to the dairy crisis.
The government cannot surely leave it any longer to get behind our dairy farmers who are in severe financial and emotional distress, and which has deepened as a result of this week’s rain.
Jeremy Rockliff MP Deputy Leader of the State Opposition
