FOLLOWING extensive lobbying from state governments and industry bodies, the federal government has announced it will be extending it popular On-Farm Emergency Water Infrastructure Rebate Scheme with an extra $50 million, doubling the total funds to $100m.
This comes as part of its pre-budget announcements, ahead of the official release on Tuesday.
Resources, Water and Northern Australian Minister Keith Pitt said the extra $50 million will be available this financial year to drought affected livestock producers and horticulturalists with permanent plantings.
"The rebate scheme had been very well received by farmers because the infrastructure it supported provided enduring benefits, including new bores, better dams and pipes that allowed movement of water to their stock," he said.
The federal government has offered rebates of up to 25pc of the eligible infrastructure costs, capped at $25,000.
In SA, this was doubled to allow a 50pc rebate of up to $50,000, causing the scheme to be exhausted midway through June after helping 442 landholders, leaving many producers left out.
Mr Pitt said the scheme was oversubscribed by an estimated 2000 applications.
"Many of our Federal MPs and Senators, along with farmers, put forward a strong case to have the scheme extended - and we're delivering that," he said.
"My intention is to make this support work even harder by partnering with the states and territories who must match the Commonwealth funding for eligible on-farm water infrastructure projects."
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the scheme was extremely popular as it provided much needed assistance to improve water security, productivity and profitability.
"While recent rains are a cause for optimism, recovering from drought can take years rather than months," he said.
"This rebate is essential in the immediate term to help farmers keep livestock watered and permanent plantings alive in the drought.
"It's even more valuable over the long term because the water infrastructure farmers build now will better prepare them for future drought events."
Last week, the state government announced it would be reinstating the scheme for those who had already applied and missed out and for those who had completed the work but not yet applied, with $3.45m allocated.
Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister David Basham said he had instructed PIRSA to seek out additional funds for this project, even as the state government lobbied the federal government to expand the scheme.
As it stands, the SA scheme has applicants entitled to 30pc funding - up to $30,000 per application.
In a release, the state government said if the Commonwealth were to provide additional funds, it was "expected the total support for each applicant would return to $50,000 in line with the original rebate".
Mr Basham said the federal government announcement was welcome.
"This has been an incredibly popular program with 521 applications approved so far," he said.
"We are yet to receive details on how the expanded federal program will be rolled out including the level of rebate.
"Until negotiations are complete, our latest boost to the scheme will allow existing applications to continue to be processed.
"It will also enable potential applicants who may have already undertaken work and incurred costs to apply for support."
The rebate scheme covers the purchase and installation of pipes, water storage infrastructure such as tanks and troughs, water pumps and associated electronic systems to manage water delivery, desilting dams and the drilling of new stock water bores.
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Elizabeth Anderson
Editor of Stock Journal.
Editor of Stock Journal.
