MEMBER for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall has requested the state’s top drought body, the Regional Assistance Advisory Committee, visit the region urgently and assess the worsening dry conditions.
The RAAC will begin a tour of western NSW regions later this month and Mr Marshall said he had written to Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson last week requesting that RAAC visit the region to assess the deteriorating situation first-hand.
“Under the new approach from the Federal and State Governments to drought management, the RAAC reports to the Minister and makes recommendations on a region’s seasonal conditions and programs for farm business, farm family and community support,” Mr Marshall said.
The State MP said the past few months had been a very trying period for primary producers in the region.
“The extreme weather conditions of the past month, the high temperatures along with hot winds have brought on some of the worst conditions farmers in this region have experienced in a long time,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we can’t make it rain but we may be able to ease the burden in some way and this begins with an assessment of the conditions by the RAAC.”
