Growing Cotton’s Future  /  Information Sessions

Centrelink: Rody O’Grady from Centrelink outlined the range of drought assistance programs available to farmers from the Federal Government and looked at how these programs can be accessed.

What are some of the drought assistance programs open to cotton growers throughout NSW and Queensland?
The most well-known are the Exceptional Circumstances income support payments. This is a very inclusive program with generous income and assets tests. What we like to do is speak to individual farming families about their circumstances to determine eligibility and talk about how the payments work.

Do you often find that people try to do a self assessment and sometimes miss out because they don’t assess themselves properly?
Yes, we often find that a lot of farmers have self-assessed their entitlements and may have been knocked back for things in the past. The way we assess these programs is very different from a lot of our other areas of business so as a consequence we ask farmers not to self-assess. Instead, farmers should find out directly from Centrelink about your eligibility through Centrelink’s rural service officers. It’s prudent business to have your circumstances assessed from one of our officers as we find that a lot of people qualify when they think that they won’t. There is a drought assistance line on 13 23 16 and very comprehensive information on our website www.centrelink.gov.au

What other forms of assistance are available for our growers?
Professional Advice and Planning Grant is a handy program where growers can get up to $5,500 worth of professional advice and planning from their nominated professions. So if growers are looking at doing different things on the farm we would them to apply for a Professional Advice and Planning Grant, get a drought management plan done and any recommendations within that plan in terms of further planning and further advice can also be paid for. A lot of people have used this for things like soil testing, stock advice, crop advice, looking at different crop options and also paying for advice from financial planners.

Centrelink is also receiving a lot of enquiries about the Murray-Darling Basin Irrigation Management grant which is particularly pertinent to cotton growers as licensed irrigators. This is a $20,000 grant to assist growers to make changes on their farms with regard to different irrigation options. This grant can be used on things like upgrading irrigation systems, replacing irrigation system equipment, laser leveling, and the payment of fixed water charges.

What are the restrictions for applying for the Murray-Darling Basin Irrigation Management grant?
It’s very inclusive. A grower needs to apply on behalf of a farming enterprise where all members of that enterprise need to have a non- primary production asset of $750,000 or less. Please note that when we look at assets we disregard the farm, machinery, farm management deposits, and money in bank accounts that would ordinarily be used for farming operations. The person applying for the funds needs to be a licensed irrigator or a customer of an irrigation operation and been an irrigator for three years.

Are there any other programs that may be worth noting for cotton growers?
There are exit grants available where farming families are looking at exiting farming. So if this is something that you are considering you need to find out about this. Please visit www.centrelink.gov.au for a comprehensive list of any other grants.

What are the two main messages you would like growers to take away with them from the drought workshops?
Firstly, don’t self-assess your entitlements. Secondly, don’t do it any harder than you have to. Make sure you access the income support and different range of assistance that is out there. I often find that growers hold back on assessing funding because of pride and that’s understandable in difficult times. However, these are industry assistance packages, they’re not welfare. The Australian Government values the contribution of the cotton industry to the national economy and as a result of circumstances beyond anyone’s control the government is making available this assistance. The most prudent way to do business if to find out about assistance and accept it if offered.