Have Your Say

TRANSCRIPT: DROUGHT PRESSER WITH TONY CLOUGH, 25 May 2025 – WINDERMERE, WANTABADGERY

25 May 2025

Subjects: Southern NSW Drought 

E&OE 

STARTS: 10:54am 

 

INTERVIEWER  

Dugald Saunders, Leader of the New South Wales Nationals, joined here by Tony Clough, property owner, Michael McCormack, Federal Member for Riverina, and Peter Cabot, President of Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association. 

 

DUGALD SAUNDERS 

So, look, we’re here today really to start, putting a bit of pressure on the State Government, which has a Budget coming up in a month now, to say that people in the southern part of New South Wales, right through the Riverina, through Cootamundra, Gundagai, through Snowy Valleys and about to head into the West and Central parts of NSW, are under extreme pressure, due to drought, which has been noticeably making an impact in this part of the world now for nine to 12 months. It really hasn’t been a season properly for a couple of years. And as you can see here at Tony’s place, the feeding of sheep, the feeding of cattle is commonplace. It’s a daily occurrence. Cropping is all but done for this season. Last year was a really ordinary season, and the Government, at a State level, and also the Federal level, needs to recognise that farmers are not looking for a handout. They are looking for maybe some help up during difficult times. Now, in the north of the State, with currently got flooding occurring again, but it’s too easy to forget about the southern parts of the State, which have been in significant drought for over 12 months now. So, in simple terms, what do we need the Government to do, actually recognise that something is happening and it’s affecting farmers and communities in this part of the world. At the moment, there is a drought-ready resilient fund which is completely under subscribed. You had $250 million announced in November of 2023. Since that time, only 34 applications have come forward because the fund is not fit for purpose. Previously, with the Coalition Government, we had a Farm Innovation Fund with $1 billion, which saw over 6,500 applications and funding of up to $1 million for preparedness for drought. So, things like more grain storage, more hay storage, silage storage for pits in the ground, to be able to do, setting up yards for feed lotting, a range of things that actually made farmers more resilient for the future. We need more funding like that. And right now, we need some immediate help for farmers in this region that have been doing it tough for 12 months. That could include simply wiping LLS rates. We’ve done it before, we did it for three years in a row actually, in Coalition Government. The Labor Government now needs to look at exactly what can be done, some meaningful solutions right now to make sure that farmers like Tony and his neighbours know that they’ve got support there for the future. They’ll keep doing what they do. They’ll keep producing the food and fibre we need every single day. But they also very occasionally need just a bit of support and that’s what we’re calling for today from the NSW State Government to show that there is capacity within the Government to support our farmers in our regional communities. Michael, do you want to say a few words? 

 

MICHAEL McCORMACK  

These are desperate times, and desperate times require Governments, both State and Federal, to step up. I’ve let Julie Collins know, the Agriculture Minister, that help is required. I’ve invited her to the Riverina to see firsthand what Tony and others are dealing with every day, and whether that’s in the form of assistance through, transport subsidies or fodder assistance. They are desperate. I was talking to Maria Willis, 95-year-old, at Muttama the other day, she said she’s never seen it so dry. Of course, that’s taking into account the 95 years of living in the Riverina. You only have to look around you, it’s a Moon landscape. It’s as dry as a chip and farmers, their mental health also needs to be absolutely taken into account because, they are worried. As Dugald said, they grow the best food and fibre in all of the world. But they can’t keep doing that with the weather the way it is now. You know, I think it’s incumbent upon Governments to do what they can. A Coalition Government always seemed to find the right assistance, the right measures and take that care to come and actually look firsthand at what the situation is. And as Tony mentioned, just a few moments ago when we were talking privately, the situation with the live sheep export ban is not helping matters. It’s not helping farmers. In Western Australia, by 2028, the live sheep exports will be phased out and that will have impacts on eastern markets. In June 2011, when we heard that Indonesian situation where the live cattle were banned overnight due to a television program and the knee-jerk reaction to it, we saw prices in Wagga slump within about 10 days of that stupid decision. Now, this decision to ban live exports out of Western Australia, to stop farmers doing what they are doing, well, it cost lives, it cost livelihoods, it will do that. And the situation is this, you’ve got a live sheep ban which is going to stop generational family farmers from doing what they’ve done, and in the Budget before last, Federally, the Government’s biggest investment into agriculture, into farmers was $124 million to stop farmers from farming. And that’s the reality, to stop farmers from actually sending their sheep overseas in what was the best animal welfare standards in the world for shipping sheep to another country. Those exports will be taken up, those opportunities will be taken up by countries that don’t put animal welfare front and centre of everything that they do. So, the situation here, of course, is desperate. Wantabadgery, through Snowy Valleys, through Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Council areas and it’s creeping insidiously right throughout the Riverina. And the situation up North is the fact that we’ve got too much water, in Coffs Harbor today they’re expecting anywhere up to an inch or two of rain. I’ve been speaking to colleagues there, and that’s just unbelievable. Anyway, I’ll hand over to Tony. 

 

TONY CLOUGH 

Now, of, any questions for me? There we go, start with you.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

Tony, we were just chatting before that, you know, you’re not looking for a handout. And as Dugald said, it’s more support. How much do you think, not just the Riverina, but NSW and Australia relies on the food and fibre being produced out of areas like yours? 

 

TONY CLOUGH 

Well, this country is renowned for producing the best minerals in the world. We have the best mining industry, we have the best agricultural industry in the world. And the country needs to realise that, you know, the country depends upon those industries. Now, I know there’s a lot of other industries in manufacturing and so forth, but at the end of the day, agriculture and mining is probably the two biggest ones. And we do need to make sure that they survive in this country.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

We’ve seen a lot of flooding, obviously, up north, and people have very big knee-jerk reaction to flooding because it is so sudden and it does wipe out a lot. Droughts are just as considered an environmental disaster as well, but it’s almost a silent killer in that sense. Do you agree with that kind of sentiment that, you know, droughts are just as damaging, it just takes a longer period, and it’s almost quietened a little bit?  

 

TONY CLOUGH 

So, I guess at the end of the day, if you get flooding rains and caused a lot of grief, you’ll get growth after that. Whereas with a drought, nothing’s going to grow. It’s dry and nothing is going to grow there. It doesn’t matter how many crops and how much fertiliser you put in there, nothing is going to happen. So, they are two disasters, and you’ve got to sort of look at both as being totally horrific and, and you just need to deal with that, I guess. But you talk about water and that’s probably another issue that we need to when we need to address, whether from a Government point of view, is the lack of water, the storage of water. I mean, all of our dams, we’re got 10 or a dozen dams here, we’re also on town water. But the dams are all dead set dry. So, at the moment we’re trying to get water out of the creeks to put water in those dams so we can water our livestock. But there is a, and I’m not sure what a Dugald or Michael are aware, they probably are, of the amount of rainfall that we are allowed to capture, I think is 10 per cent. Now, how dare someone like the Government today that I say we can only take 10 per cent of that rainfall and store it. We should be able to store every little bit of rain that comes out of the atmosphere. It doesn’t belong to anyone. It belongs to the place it lands on, so therefore, why can’t we store that water? So in other words, can we go out there and build bigger dams and bigger water storage is on our farms and maybe that’s some way the Government can assist in earthworks in doing that sort of stuff, as well as other incentives, as Michael talked about, in grain storage and fodder storage on farms. And this was mentioned, look, I don’t know when Ian MacDonald was the Agricultural Minister many years ago, and I suggested to him that incentives should be given for grain storage and hay storage, and he said, I was and idiot, and he’s lucky he didn’t get thumped. But anyway, he probably got thumped in jail but anyway. But at the end of the day, you know, we need to give some farmers some incentives to be able to produce what they produce well. So therefore, it is, as I said at the outset Emily, that we do not want handouts, but we just want to be thought about and given some sort of, help along the way I guess. 

INTERVIEWER 

Tony, how have your farming practises changed over the past few months because of the drought?  

 

TONY CLOUGH 

So, the last few months, our practises, probably every day we jump on this vehicle over here and fill it up with grain and then go and get the loader and cart out grain and so forth. And I think that, it doesn’t give us the opportunity to go and do all those other things that we want to do, like the farm improvements or the servicing of vehicles, well, all of that gets done anyway. But at the end of the day, you get up in the morning, and I know I’ve got nice green lawn around the house, which is nice to look at, but you walk out here and you think: ‘Shivers, I’ve got to go out and feed cattle, I’ve got to feed the sheep, I’ve got to pull some sheep out of a bog or out of an old dam or something or whatever’. So therefore, the practises have changed, we’re not doing the things that I’d like to do. Farming is all about a number of things, whether it be looking after your animals, or doing the other things that you want to do or even a social event. Someone rings me up, they wouldn’t want me to go out for lunch tomorrow, I mean, a couple of old retired farmers, and I’m thinking, I haven’t got bloody time. I should go, but, you know, what do you do? I’ve got a responsibility to my land and my animals, and we need to continue to look after that.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

How concerned are you in reaching 2018-2019 levels?  

 

TONY CLOUGH 

Look, 2018 was probably the worst drought, and I’ve been here since 1981, and I think that it’s the worst drought ever, that we’ve ever had here. I think we had a rainfall event of about, I think it was about six inches in the old scale for the year, which was terrible. And ’86 was probably the worst before that. But, I mean, at the end of the day, I don’t see us going into that scenario just yet. If it stays dry for another two months and people don’t get their crops in, I mean, I very little cropping at all, there are a lot of farmers that have finished and put it all in dry. Now that’s a lot of expensive grain put out there in the ground, and there’s no guarantee that anything’s going to come from that, and I and I believe that, you know, the farmers go out there and spend a lot of money, on fertilisers and seed and chemical and so forth. And at the end of the day, it’s going to crucify a lot of farmers if they don’t get a crop out of this. Now, if it doesn’t rain for another two months, you know, that stuff that that’s been sown is not going to grow. We need right now, we need two inches of rain and hopefully steady rain, but that might not happen. But whatever happens, will be, I guess. But yes, the crops are not going to look good without that moisture. But anyway, as you said, Emily, I don’t think it’s going to be as bad as ’18 just yet, but it could get there if it if it keeps going.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

Is that why it’s important to have these conversations now so it doesn’t get to a point where we are, say, 2018 and 2006, and, you know, we have you have the two (Shadow) Ministers behind you, is it important to have these conversations now so that you’re not necessarily reacting, but you’re proactive instead? 

 

TONY CLOUGH 

Well, I think the proactive bit should have been done 12 months ago, or 18 months ago, or two years ago. I think it’s as farmer, and my colleagues over here would agree, that if you want to be a farmer, you do have to be proactive. You do need to make sure that you’ve got the right equipment, you’ve got the right storage, you’ve conserved the fodder, you’ve gone out and made a lot of hay if you’ve got, livestock and so forth. So, I think most farmers are proactive and you need to be safe, because if you get to this drought here right now, and you say: ‘Oh, hang on, I don’t have enough gain in my  silos, I’ve got to go out and buy some, all of a sudden you can’t get grain.’ I mean, you can buy grain, but the farmers that are selling grain have put the price up $40 or $50 a tonne because there’s high demand, and, to try and get some hay right now, I mean, you’ve got to go a fair way away to try and get some hay, if you’re lucky enough to be able to get it. And then you’ve got to transport it back and the cost of the transport to get it back to here is going to cost you more than the hay probably. So, at the end of the day, I think, as I said, farmers are proactive. They get out there and try, most farmers I won’t say all farmers, most farmers will get out there prior to any dry times, they’ll make hay, they’ll produce grain, or they’ll buy grain in and fill their storages up and so forth. So, they’re being proactive about it all and you have to be that, you can’t be reactive.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

Have you been selling off livestock because of the drought? 

 

TONY CLOUGH 

All my good livestock, yes. All the good livestock which have been fat enough to sell, yes, I have, but at the moment we don’t have anything that’s in a saleable, State. So, what we’re trying to do is, you know, in the in the creek just over here, there’s a few lambs there that are on a feeder and they’re getting supplementary fed. So hopefully, you know, in a month’s time we might be able to sell those. But that’s the only thing you can do at the moment. There’s nothing else that that we can sell off, unless we sell off cows that are looking pretty ordinary, which might happen anyway. So that might eventually happen, we might say, well, enough is enough. We don’t we don’t have enough hay to go forward anymore, so we have to sell the cows. So, at that stage, you know, the scenario might be the price might drop, you know, sort of a dollar a kilo or whatever it might be. So, look, I think, yes, to answer your question, yes, I have I’m unloaded all the stock that I can and I’m believing that I don’t want to sell any more if I can help it.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

And just following that, how are the conditions of these livestock? Are they struggling?  

 

TONY CLOUGH 

Yes, they are. These ewes that are behind me right now, if these were really fat ewes and if had really good lambs on them, they arrived nice fresh lambs when we marked them, they are now dragging the chain a little bit now. They look pretty plain, so to speak. And I’m not proud of that by any stretch of the imagination. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing more than I can do except to keep feeding them grain and hay if I’ve got enough, to keep them alive. But go back six weeks ago, and those livestock were in pretty good nick, and you’d be proud of them. But now all the sheep have lost a lot of condition. And therefore, they’re not, I mean, they are still a saleable item, but at the end of the day, they’re not the way we want them. And we produce livestock and we look after our livestock, and that’s how it has to be. 

 

INTERVIEWER 

Tony, you touched on sales just there as well. What impact do you think for those at home that are consuming, what impact do you say it having on make prices?  

 

TONY CLOUGH 

Eat meat, eat more meat. I mean, for Heaven’s sakes, meat is good for you. It gives you lots of iron. Look, at the end of the day, I mean, the market goes up and down a little bit. The cattle market’s not too bad at the moment for good livestock, but you’ve got to get those good livestock. The lamb market’s reasonably strong and I feel as though, if you’ve got the products to sell, well, go for it. But for the consumer out there, I mean, continue to support the agricultural industry because we do produce the best beef and the best lamb in the world, without a doubt. And we need to keep people interested in buying it. But at the end of the day, there’s a lot of people that are buying takeaway food, whether it be chicken or pork or something else, I mean, not that pork’s a bad thing, but at the end of the day, we’ve got we’ve got people out there that are not buying because the cost of living has increased so much that they just can’t afford to do it. And that’s unfortunate.  

 

INTERVIEWER  

Do you see prices going up in terms of lamb and beef?  

 

TONY CLOUGH 

Look, I think, Peter will probably be able to support me in this, but I think down the track when we do get some good feed and we’ve got livestock coming into the markets that they’re in good condition, the price will be, strong enough, I believe. And I think that the cattle market will be the same. Also, as I said before there about the wet in the Northern part of the country. I mean, fortunately, it’s wet up there and they’re supporting our markets down here because they’re looking for livestock and they picking up livestock from down here and taking them north and that’s a benefit to us. But at the end of the day, when we get some food and we start producing some good quality stock and we take them to market, I think the prices will be strong.  

 

INTERVIEWER  

We might get Peter to say a few words about the markets maybe. 

 

PETER 

Yes. I’ll take questions.  

 

INTERVIEWER  

So what do you see happening? We’ve just heard Tony’s perspective. What’s your perspective on, you know, you’ve got saleyard prices, but then you’ve got prices for those at home who are wanting to have a steak or whatever?  

PETER 

Yeah, there’s no doubt it’s supply and demand. The whole market is driven by supply and demand. And there’s obviously a lot of stock like Tony’s here that aren’t yet ready for slaughter. So, the market will, as the drought continues, the prices will increase. So, you know, Victoria and South Australia have also been in a horrendous drought for the past 12 months. So, they’re buying suppliers’ stock, but unfortunately, they’re struggling to get their stock to a saleable condition. So, as there are fewer and fewer saleable stock on the market, the price will increase. So, you would have to anticipate that it will definitely increase.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

We’re seeing saleyards have record numbers of cattle and sheep. Is that normal during this time? 

 

PETER 

We’ve never seen it to this degree, and that’s two-fold, there’s been there’s been a centralisation of saleyards. But obviously with the dry conditions in the past six months, we’ve seen, you know, and especially in the last six weeks, locally here in Wagga, we’ve had the largest sheep sale we’ve ever had and the largest cattle sale we’ve ever had. So that’s a culmination of the decentralization of sale yards.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

People might hear: ‘Oh yeah, record sale, that’s a that’s a good thing.’ But obviously we know that means that they’re harder to sell. Is that the challenge that you guys have at the moment?  

 

PETER 

Well, it is, and the challenge for the farmers is that they are, and even from the agents’ point of view, they all the large numbers of stock that have come forward now, are stock that we would normally sell in October, November. But because of the drought conditions and because of the price of fodder, farmers have had to make a decision, unfortunately, that they’re going to sell the stock that they would normally fatten up to the spring, and they’ve had to they’ve had to sell that now. So, the farmers aren’t getting what they should be getting for them in November. So, they’re already starting to take a price hit on that because they’re having to sell drought affected stock at this time of the year, whereas normally they would be selling finished stock in November.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

Are you expecting this to continue into June-July?  

 

PETER 

Oh, I would think so. The price will depend, as Tony said, it’s going to depend on whether and how much it rains in the next, you know, three or four weeks, that will have a big impact because you still will get some growth and farmers are good operators, and if it did happen to rain in the next three or four weeks, there would be farmers that would be able to take advantage of that and put cropping and all the rest of it. But, certainly if it didn’t rain in the next month and you got into the middle of winter, and with the price of fodder, unfortunately, all farmers are different, and they’re all in different positions, but a lot of them will have to start to sell drought affected stock.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

This is a question for either Michael or Dugald. So, you as Nationals, you both represent areas that are affected by the drought. How do you then take this information that Tony’s given you and, you know, take that to Parliament and tell them, hey, this is this is a real issue that that is affecting farmers ahead of the budget. How does that look?  

 

DUGALD SAUNDERS 

Yeah, look, it’s not even taking it to Parliament. The Minister for Agriculture and Regional NSW was here yesterday at the CWA Conference. She’s aware of how dry this area is, what I’m calling from the Minister and also the Premier is for some action. I mean, we’ve heard from farmers today. We heard yesterday again from several different farmers about how dire the situation is. We need some meaningful solutions, not just a pretend solution and shuffling money around on the decks. There needs to be a new realization of what impact is being felt down here. And that’s literally what I’m calling for from the Minister is some action, something, do something to let people know here in this region you’ve got their back because inaction is a complete failure once again. And a simple part of that would be LLS rates. Another simple part is guaranteeing the Farm Gate Counsellors that we had, 27, Farm Gate Counsellors to make sure that if there is some mental health stress in the region, that people can actually reach out and get the help. Now that he’s due to finish on June 30th, there should be a commitment today from the Minister to say that program continues. We know primary producers are far more likely than anyone else to have that mental health stress, so why not guarantee the support now? Why are we waiting until the end of June and the budget to know whether that will be there? That’s a horrendous situation. It should be guaranteed today.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

The Budget is, like you say, nearly a month away. Can we wait that long in terms of financial support and support as well? I can see Michael shaking his head.  

 

DUGALD SAUNDERS 

No, we definitely can’t. I mean, I guess the reason we’re here today to make a stand and say, farmers all around this region want help, is that the Budget is too far away. We’re giving a month to say you should be announcing something. There should be some money brought forward. There is a failing, a bunch of money there right now in that fund that has only had 34 applications. Repurpose that money and make it useful and usable for producers right now. Don’t leave it in a pot where it’s not going to be accessed by people. Make it usable and meaningful for the people who need the help now. And as we say, this is not about getting a handout. It’s about saying, we’ve got your back, we know it’s a tough time now, we know you’re preparing to be ready for when the weather finally breaks, so maybe it can be incentives for replanting, you know, if there was some rain to help stimulate farmers to get back on the tractor and actually sow something. There’s a range of ways that departments and Governments can actually activate the sector. What we’re calling for is for that to happen ahead of this Budget. 

 

INTERVIEWER 

But how much funding are we talking about? How much would actually help?  

 

DUGALD SAUNDERS 

Look at anything can help. But there’s a fund there that’s still got $230 odd million in it. We had committed to another billion dollars in the Farm Innovation Fund ahead of the last election. But that $250 million in comparison is a drop in the ocean. But repurpose that fund now, we know it’s not working. We know that no one’s taking it up because it’s too difficult and it isn’t actually meeting the requirements of the farmers. So, repurpose that. Talk to farmers about what they want and how. But some simple solutions can actually make a big difference immediately. 

 

INTERVIEWER 

And Michael, at a Federal level, do you think the Federal Government needs to roll out drought relief for impacted farmers?  

 

MICHAEL McCORMACK 

Yes.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

What would that look like? 

 

MICHAEL McCORMACK 

Well, as I said before, transport subsidies, fodder assistance, this is critical. This is a critical time. They always seem to find money, Labor Governments, for festivals and the like in metropolitan cities. But, you know, these people are desperate, and these people are growing the food and fibre, they’re putting the food on all the people’s tables in Sydney and Melbourne, elsewhere, they’re growing the fibre to put clothes on their back, but they can’t keep doing it on the smell of an oily rag. They’ve got no rain, and for some of them, no hope. And, you know, it’s pretty forlorn looking at the sky, you can see it now, there’s not a cloud in the sky, and, you know, for the future that that spells trouble. And you know, the Labor Government in its last Budget, Federally, there was no money for regional infrastructure, no money for regional roads. They need to step up. They really need to be able to come good with really important funding. And the Minister needs to get out here and see firsthand. And I’ve got every respect for Julie Collins, I do, but, you know, let’s see the colour of your money. Let’s see that you actually do care, like you said, at the last election, the one before you’d leave no-one behind. Well farmers like Tony are getting left behind. And it’s time to show that you mean what you say, and you say what you mean. Come out here, have a look, see the desperation. Not just out on the paddocks, but in the in the farmers’ eyes and do something about it.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

Should the Prime Minister come out here as well?  

 

MICHAEL McCORMACK 

Well, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I mean, he’s quick to jump on his plane and head overseas, and I don’t knock that because he needs to be on the international stage for the international events, I do not criticise that. But it wouldn’t hurt for him to also to get that plane and head it towards, the hills around here, get in your car in and drive out here and have a look, have a look for yourself and, and see how desperate this situation is.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

And, Tony, is that what you want to see? Do you want to see politicians from the Labor Party come here and see the situation?  

 

TONY CLOUGH 

Michael’s right, and the politicians tend to work out of Canberra and look, they don’t get to the grassroots, they don’t come out here and look at how bad it really is. I don’t think they really understand, how the farming fraternity are surviving, and I think it would be nice if, as Michael said, if, and I’m sure it won’t happen, but if Albanese turned up here tomorrow, I mean, I’d give him a guided tour all day. And I don’t think Julie Collins will come out here either and maybe I could be wrong. But at the end of the day, they don’t see this. They don’t see what farmers are doing out here. They don’t understand how much strife some of the farmers are. I mean, there are farmers out there that, that are sort of, struggling financially. A lot of farmers probably out there struggling financially. And, if they don’t get a crop and they can’t sell their livestock in a reasonable condition, they’re not going to survive. So, they’ll need as much support as I can get.  

 

MICHAEL McCORMACK 

And just another point too, they’re pretty quick to put in place the unrealised capital gains tax and what that will mean for farmers is, Tony’s farm actually increases in price, he’s going to  landed with a tax bill to pay for the land’s increasing price, that he hasn’t actually sold. And that’s a that’s a realism that is coming to every farm, every superannuation account right across Australia now. They’re pretty quick to put that through Parliament. They can actually make these changes without actually having to go through the Parliament. We don’t resume Parliament until the end of July, but they can make changes now, like that, click of a finger, the Minister can say to the department, we need to roll out some assistance. They can have Cabinet meeting on a Zoom if they really need to, if they want to and get some assistance rolled out. They’re quick to putt in taxes and slug the farmers. You know, let’s see the colour of your money. Come out here and see for yourself. Tony will put on a cup of tea too I’m sure and a Tim Tam or something home-cooked. Anyway, there you go. Thank you.  

 

INTERVIEWER 

Before we go, I guess there’s such a contrast between the north and the south of the State. I guess you could say this the tale of two States. Can I get a comment from you guys on that? 

 

DUGALD SAUNDERS 

Yeah. I mean, that’s the reality, you know of NSW. We’ve dealt with, in Government, the worst floods in living memory in 2022 and rolled out assistance to make sure that primary producers could actually get back on their feet really quickly. And at the same time, you know, we haven’t seen that commitment last, you know, a couple of months ago when there was the tropical cyclone and there’s more rain now. But you can deal with that whilst also helping people in the south. And it shouldn’t be one or the other. This is not north Vs south. There is money there. There is money in a fund that is not working. Repurpose the fund properly, make it accessible to people and make it meaningful for what they want done. Don’t make it too hard so that nobody can access it. I mean, 34 applications, is laughable. 14 of those happened in the first month. And so, there’s been less than one a month for the past year, which shows that it’s not working. Give people what they want. LLS rates is a really easy one to do and that should be done right now. We did that for three years in a row.  

 

ENDS: 11:30am 

 

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