Earning Off-farm Dollars Ought To Combat Dust, Despair And Debt
The Age
Monday July 14, 2008
As a nation, we must invest in ensuring our farmers survive.
SINCE being awarded Australian of the Year 2008 in January I have continued my travels around Australia and have concentrated on visiting those areas of regional Australia most affected by drought. The visits to local communities have been a paddock tour of sorts - an opportunity to meet face to face and talk quietly to the mums and dads, the grandparents and the kids from drought-affected communities, to find out from them how they are coping and the issues that are affecting them the most.There is no doubt the drought has taken a massive toll on a large number of farming families across Australia.Families and businesses are under a huge amount of pressure and the impact of this incredible pressure on families, not only financially but emotionally and psychologically, has been immense - and, in some cases, catastrophic.Many families are struggling just to put food on the table and this desperation is compounded even further by several factors. Not only are farming families battling to save their farms and their businesses, but they often have to go to work each day to save the family home - the very roof over their heads.As you can imagine it is a devastating experience as a family goes through the nightmare of losing their farm and losing their home. And It rips at the fabric of the local community when another farm is lost or a family is broken apart through depression or the loss of a loved one.There are many issues to be addressed but the one thing that stood out to me time and again was the issue of off-farm income. Many farming families realise they need to take on a second or a third job in order to work their way out of debt, to restock and rebuild their lives. But unfortunately the current system of drought relief penalises farming families for taking on additional work off farm. I realise that this policy is one that has been inherited by the Rudd Government from the previous government. Actually there are some very good parts to the policy as it stands - the interest rate subsidy, for instance, is extremely important - but when it comes to the issue of off-farm income we have a real problem that needs to be fixed.One example of the difficulties is this: should a drought-stricken farming family earn more than $400 a week "off farm" they begin to lose entitlements and assistance under the drought relief package.The policy effectively takes away any hope farming families might have of working their way out of debt - and hope is something we need to give back to our farming families.If drought relief is to be wound back in any shape or form it would result in one thing - it would break the back of the bush.I don't believe we should ever treat our farming families as statistics or numbers to be crunched on a balance sheet.They are real people: hard-working mums and dads, nans and pops and little kids growing up on the land.They are not looking for a hand out, they just want a fair go, a fighting chance. In my book this is the Australian way.As a nation we have some important decisions to make. Do we let our farming families go and so become a nation that is reliant on other countries for our food, a nation that is reliant on other countries for our fibre? Or do we invest in our rural and regional communities? Do we invest in the future of Australian agriculture? Do we invest in the future of our kids?These are the questions we need to ask ourselves right now. Lee Kernaghan is Australian of the Year 2008. He made this speech at the opening of nominations for next year's awards. To nominate someone for Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year or Australia's Local Hero 2009 go to australianofthe year.org.au before August 31.
© 2008 The Age