By ZAIDA GLIBANOVIC

 

FARMERS hit by recent wild weather have continued to plea for government support as they pick up the pieces.

Murray Watt, the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management, visited Gippsland last week, but gave no indication of any future federal assistance for disaster-impacted farmers.

The Minister visited the Ellinbank SmartFarm to praise the farm’s innovation visiting Vietnamese delegates, but while they toured the green pastures in Ellinbank, farmers just 40 kilometres away continued to suffer after the February storm.

“I’m very conscious that this part of Victoria recently experienced those terrible storms, particularly Mirboo North, but I know the region in general was affected,” Minister Watt said when questioned about relief measures to struggling Mirboo North farmers.

“There has been a significant amount of support already provided by the federal and Victorian governments to this region, as there has been to Western Victoria with the bushfires that they’ve experienced recently,” he added.

The state and federal government have implemented a range of supports following the devastating storm in February, including the Prolonged Power Outage payment for small businesses and homes without power for longer than seven days.

The state and federal government have also announced local government financial assistance and a head contractor to assist with the post-storm clean-up.

On February 25, the federal and state governments announced that disaster-affected councils would share in a $21 million support package through the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

The package includes $13.1 million towards a Clean-Up Program to remove hazards and waste for impacted and uninsured residents. Baw Baw, East Gippsland and Wellington Shires are among the 29 councils who will share $8 million to help restore community assets and facilities.

But when it comes to the agriculture and horticulture industry, farmers are still waiting for assistance.

“What we do when natural disasters hit is look at immediate support in the days following, but as the weeks and months roll on further support is provided to communities as the impacts become clearer,” Mr Watt said.

Some farmers in Mirboo North are facing clean-up bills of around $100,000 for fencing and tree removal, feeling left behind by the lack of government financial support.

The Cummaudo Farm in Mirboo North told the Express they will struggle covering the cost of their 30-odd acres lost from hail damage, let alone forking out thousands of dollars on fencing and clearing costs.

Victorian Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien, said it was understandable that local farmers feel as though they have been forgotten about.

Mr O’Brien said he had written to the state Minister for Agriculture, Ross Spence, asking that funding be made available for these farmers as a matter of priority.

In Mirboo North, potato farms and a snow pea farm were heavily damaged, and so was the Mirboo North nursery, which told the Express it had lost 95 per cent of stock during the recent storm event.

Mr O’Brien is urging the government to make clean-up grant arrangements available like that of the large storms in June and October 2021.

State Minister for Energy and Resources, Lily D’Ambrosio, during her visit to Mirboo North last month, said the government was using the 2021 storm event as a guide, but had yet to announce similar funding grants.

Mr O’Brien said the problem was caused by criteria in the current disaster funding arrangements, which require a certain percentage of a region to be directly affected by the natural disaster before clean-up assistance from the state and federal governments will be provided.

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has opened donations for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) as farmers continue to struggle to pay the bills after the recent storms.

VFF President, Emma Germano said many regional communities had been left reeling after a series of devastating natural disasters.

“Farmers have lost farm sheds, kilometres of fencing, stock, machinery and that’s just from early assessments. We know there will be more, so we’re getting on the front foot and opening our disaster relief fund applications,” she said.

Storm-impacted Mirboo North potato farmer, Paul Giardina, said it was ironic that the government was happy to boast about local crops but wouldn’t offer any support.

“Unfortunately, we’re in a situation where we aren’t getting looked at – we’re bypassed,” he said.

“It’s us running around trying to do what we can to try and help ourselves.”