State and Federal Labor fail Tassie’s storm-affected dairy farmers

State and Federal Labor have failed Tasmania’s battling dairy farmers, Tasmanian Liberal Senator and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Richard Colbeck said.

“In September dairy farmers in the State’s North-West copped a ferocious wind storm that left many properties without power for up to a week.

“Dairy cows cannot wait a week for Aurora to reconnect the power so these farmers were forced to hire costly generators to relieve their herds and get dairy machinery working again.

“This unforeseen expense came at a time when Tasmanian dairy farmers were already struggling after an unseasonable wet winter and at the same time they are fighting a David and Goliath-like battle against a multinational conglomerate trying to screw them with below-the-cost-of-production milk prices.

“I wrote to the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on September 30 to highlight the Tasmanian dairy farmers’ despair.

“I urged Mr Rudd to consider using the Commonwealth’s Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA) as a guide to providing the dairy farmers with financial assistance to offset the costs.

“The response I have finally received – more than a month later, and not even from Mr Rudd – demonstrates Rudd Labor is out of touch with real need and happy to let bureaucracy go mad.

“The response, from Attorney-General Robert McClelland, says he is sorry to hear about the dairy farmers’ “hardship” but as the Tasmanian Government has not asked for natural disaster assistance following the “weather event”, the Australian Government wasn’t going to provide any.

“This is a disgraceful show from Labor at both State and Federal levels.

“Premier David Bartlett claims he supports the dairy farmers but he hasn’t appealed to the Federal Government for natural disaster relief.

“This is in contrast to my State Liberal colleague Jeremy Rockliff who supported my call back in September and spoke on the issue in State Parliament, urging the Premier and State Primary Industries Minister to support the push for natural disaster relief funding.

“And up in Canberra, the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General are so out of touch now they cannot operate outside of their bubble of bureaucratic processes and procedures.

“State and Federal Labor stand together condemned for failing to help Tasmanian dairy farmers,” Senator Colbeck said.
Senator Richard Colbeck