Victorian farmers have been hit hard with drought and now the Victorian government is offering more support.
The state government is investing an additional $75 million to help farmers through the drought, bringing the total support package to $144 million.
It comes after the Drought Response Taskforce spoke to farmers about what support they needed.
Premier Jacinta Allan said the government had been listening to farmers and communities who are doing it tough.
“This isn’t just about dollars – it’s about backing the people who feed our state and the regional communities that keep our state strong,” she said.
“Thank you to the members of the Taskforce – Victorians from different communities, backgrounds and political parties who came together to deliver real relief for farming communities.”
$35.8 million will go to help farming households in the south west manage the pressures they are facing due to prolonged drought.
The Primary Producer Support Payments will provide eligible farmers with the equivalent of a 40 per cent reduction on their property rates, providing much needed cash flow relief for farmers in 12 Local Government Areas (LGA) in south-west Victoria, including Ararat, Moyne, Colac Otway, Pyrenees, Corangamite, Southern Grampians, Glenelg, Surf Coast, Golden Plains, Warrnambool, City of Greater Geelong and southern parts of West Wimmera.
The payments will be distributed by councils.
Minister for Agriculture and Acting Minister for Water Ros Spence said cashflow relief was one of the major items raised with the Taskforce.
“That is why we’re helping farmers to create more room in their budgets to deal with the cost pressures they are facing in drought,” she said.
“Responding to the Taskforce and our regional communities, we are investing in both short-term solutions and legacy infrastructure to improve resilience and water security for farmers and their communities.”
To reduce the impact on household budgets, they are also supporting the Country Women’s Association with $2 million in support to deliver household payments of up to $1,000 to struggling families in eligible south west LGAs.
A further $5.9 million will go to critical technical decision-making support, mental health services, timely farm debt mediation and engagement activities for another 12 months and a $6.3 million fee and duty relief package will reduce the costs of doing businesses for primary producers.
Agriculture Victoria will also work with the livestock biosecurity compensation fund advisory committees, Dairy Food Safety Victoria and PrimeSafe to explore opportunities to waive biosecurity duties and regulatory fees and charges.
On top of this, Agriculture Victoria will waive indexation on its 2025-26 biosecurity fees and charges and provide targeted fee relief to assist farmers experiencing cashflow challenges.
As water becomes more scarce, the government is investing $15 million towards extending the East Grampians Rural Pipeline, also known as the Mininera Rural Pipeline.
Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water will also invest $15.6 million towards the project and continue to work with the federal government to seek a Commonwealth funding contribution to deliver the project in full.
This pipeline expansion will increase access to a reliable and high-quality water supply from Lake Fyans to around 750 additional rural properties, 10 local towns, 34 fire hydrants, and 66 tanks for firefighting in the Ararat Rural City, Northern Grampians, and Pyrenees Shire.
$3 million will go towards expanding Victoria’s Emergency Supply Point network and install new access points or upgrade existing ones across the state.
There is also $2.5 million to leverage existing groundwater bores to access water for domestic and stock usage in drought affected areas and $1 million for the Catchment Management Authorities to run Drought Employment Programs.
To view the full range of financial, technical and wellbeing support available to drought impacted farmers visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/drought or phone 136 186.
