[Greens-Media] Declare Western Vic drought to help dairy farmers - Greens

[Elizabeth.Ingham at parliament.vic.gov.au]

Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber has asked the State Government to 
declare western Victoria as drought affected, triggering Federal 
assistance.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Mr Barber said "I am requesting that 
[the Minister] take action to have western Victoria declared to be drought 
affected, and to lobby for federal assistance for farmers in that area. 
Last week Queensland declared large parts of the state to be drought 
affected."

"Over the past couple of weeks I have been all over western Victoria and 
the picture is quite stark - poor rainfall over the last six months, 
record lows in some areas, and a forecast for more of the same. It must be 
obvious to the Premier, given that this is part of his own electorate. He 
cannot have missed the fact that there is a lot of heat and drought 
affecting his electorate."

"In fact, if any other member who is interested wants to look at the 
Bureau of Meteorology figures, they will see that between 1 October 2012 
and 30 April 2013 large parts of western Victoria experienced the lowest 
rainfall on record.""

"Why is it, I would like to know, that there has been no action from the 
government in this area?"

"I went through the budget papers looking for a sign of assistance for 
farmers in western Victoria or even some awareness in the economic outlook 
that western Victoria is under severe drought. There are plenty of risks 
associated with the European economy mentioned in the budget, but there is 
nothing about drought."

"It is only going to get worse. There is a crisis in western Victoria's 
dairy industry. It is driven by low milk prices but also by high feed 
prices. Climate change means that we can expect more of the same. We need 
short-term financial relief for those farmers and, I would argue, a 
short-term plan to make dairies sustainable in the long term in a much 
more variable climate," said Mr Barber

For comment: Greg Barber - 0433 044 771

******************************

Liz Ingham
Office of Greg Barber MLC
Northern Metropolitan Region
Victorian Greens Leader

P: 9348 2622
M: 0409 333 595
E: elizabeth.ingham at parliament.vic.gov.au
W: http://mps.vic.greens.org.au

///////************************************************************///////////////

Parliament of Victoria                                                                                                                    . 
Important Disclaimer Notice:


The information contained in this email  including any attachments, may be 
confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please 
notify the sender and delete it from  your system. Any unauthorised 
disclosure, copying or dissemination of all or part of this email, including 
any attachments, is not permitted. This email, including any attachments, should 
be dealt with in accordance with copyright and  privacy legislation. 
Except where otherwise stated, views expressed are those of the individual sender.