News
02.03.2010
EC rate subsidy harms farmers: Burke
Moves to withdraw interest rate assistance from drought-stricken farmers shows the federal government is out of touch with rural Australia, opposition agriculture spokesman John Cobb says.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke on Tuesday said the Exceptional Circumstance Interest Rate Subsidy (ECIRS) payments would not be part of the government's future drought policy.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke on Tuesday said the Exceptional Circumstance Interest Rate Subsidy (ECIRS) payments would not be part of the government's future drought policy.
Opening the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) Outlook 2010 conference in Canberra, Mr Burke said the payments, which are capped at $500,000, had caused many farmers more harm than good.
Mr Burke said the policy was conditional on debt, and did not reward landowners who had paid down their loans in the good times.
It was also a payment to the bank, rather than directly to the farmer, and had kept some people in financial limbo for seven years.
"I think we need to be brave enough to acknowledge that just because we are giving people money does not mean we are doing them a favour," Mr Burke said.
The scheme would not immediately be removed, with Mr Burke flagging "strong transitional mechanisms" ahead of changes.
But opposition agriculture spokesman John Cobb said Mr Burke was "out of touch", and the move would hurt rural Australia.
"Even the best farmers have found themselves in debt following three failed wheat crops in a row," Mr Cobb said.
"Without the (ECIRS) it is doubtful whether some farmers would even be able to get carry-on finance to plant this year's wheat crop or buy sheep or cattle to restock."
Mr Burke also stood firm on changes to Australia's strict quarantine standards for beef, saying they must not be an excuse for protectionism.
On Monday, Australia lifted its 10-year ban on beef imports from countries that have experienced mad cow disease, (or BSE, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy).
Import policies must be based on the best science, Mr Burke said.
"If the science comes back and says, if protocols are followed, there is no possible public health argument here, there is no biosecurity argument here, then you don't use quarantine as an excuse for protectionism," he said.
Echoing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's weekend apology for failing to meet voters' expectations, Mr Burke also used the conference to admit the government had not properly communicated the emissions trading scheme after agriculture was exempted.
"We did a terrible job at the end of last year in explaining the final package, because there were a lot of changes in that final package," he said.
AAP
