Budget fails to tackle issues: NSW Farmers

NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin said while the first Labor budget contains promising announcements, rural communities will be “bitterly disappointed”.

The Treasury papers reveal the cost of living is set to increase with gas and power prices to skyrocket over the next two years, and long-term water spending has been slashed while the trapdoor has been set for water buybacks.

“It may seem strange to talk about drought while much of the state is in flood, but farmers know Australia goes through a cycle of wet and dry – this is precisely the time we need to be planning ahead for drought,” Mr Martin said.

“Critical drought-proofing efforts such as Dungowan and Wyangala dams have been ‘deferred’, and the likelihood of more water buybacks means there will be less water for agriculture once the rain stops. Rural communities are already looking at major economic losses as a result of this widespread flooding. The last thing they need is even less certainty into the future.”