NSW Farmers president Fiona Simson says the State Government must act quickly as drought spreads rapidly across NSW.
As the baron conditions in the north-west of the state expand to the Northern Tablelands and further afield, Ms Simson said the State Government had been caught without a plan.
“At the moment the Government is reviewing its processes to do with drought and exceptional circumstances, because the last system was widely recognised as being flawed, but in the meantime they’ve got no plan in place to deal with drought,” she said.
“The confusion is widespread and farmers don’t know what support there is out there.”
Getting access to interest rate and transport subsidies was the priority, Ms Simson said, but currently there is no provision for NSW farmers.
“In the north-west they actually had to backdate the support as everyone had already sold their stock by the time the Government got organised,” she said.
Ms Simson said the State Government needed to fast-track its systems and work better with the Federal Government.
“At the moment there’s too much confusion and that’s the last thing we want,” she said.
“Farmers don’t want handouts, but they need help sometimes when the conditions stack up against them.”
