Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell has demanded answers from the state government over the unacceptable delays in approving farmers’ applications for drought support grants.
Farmers suffering from the devastating effects of the drought are eager to make use of the Farm Drought Support Grant program, and start work on projects to make their farms drought resilient into the future.
But many cannot begin work on their projects yet, because they are still waiting for in-principle approval for their state government grant applications and cannot proceed until approval is given.
Ms Lovell told parliament that she had been contacted by a constituent who submitted an application for a drought support grant back in July, but almost a month later had still not received written in-principle approval for his project.
Many farmers want to urgently upgrade on-farm water infrastructure such as tanks, pipes, troughs, and dams, in order to make the best use of the limited rain that has started falling and that may come in a spring break.
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Capturing and making efficient use of rainfall is time critical as winter draws to a close and spring arrives, but due to government incompetence farmers are stuck waiting for grant approvals.
“The state government must explain why it is taking so long to approve grant applications for drought support projects, and tell farmers what the government will do to speed up the approval process,” Ms Lovell said.
