The issue is they have a severe drought. It is not spread over all Australia but is really hitting hardest in western New South Wales.
Tragic as the drought is it was a real pleasure to watch the news at night and hear what is being done by those in the cities to help their country cousins.
Wherever you went it was the same.
The support came from all political parties, every part of the business sector, the media and the general population.
All Australians are banding together to support those farmers.
In Brisbane various people on the street were asked if enough is being done to support Aussie farmers.
They all believe more should be done and Australia is doing a lot.
For a start, the government has allocated $1.8 billion in drought support. That move is supported by all political parties.
The government has also appointed a national drought co-ordinator, retired general Stephen Day who headed Australian operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In addition, there are large tax breaks for farmers, such as immediate tax deductions for the construction of silos, hay sheds and other feed storage facilities.
The Catholic Church in New South Wales offered concessionary fees for the children of drought-affected farmers.
A Brisbane newspaper, the Courier Mail, launched an appeal to help farmers and in short order it raised over $1 million. The paper urged readers to further support farmers by buying only local produce.
The super A&P show, the Brisbane Ekka, is raising funds to support farmers.
Woolworths supermarket chain is donating all fresh food profits on a Saturday to support Rural Aid’s Buy a Bale appeal. The appeal was set up to buy hay for drought-hit farmers.
Coles supermarket had donation boxes by each checkout and the boxes I saw weren’t filled with coins. Coles promised to match all donations dollar for dollar.
The Queensland state government launched an appeal saying it is time to help out mates in the bush. The drought is mainly in NSW.
An editorial in the Cairns Post told us to dig deep for Aussie farmers.
Another paper had a headline I really liked – If you help the cockies you help the towns too.
Every day there was an item, letter, editorial or a combination of the three supporting Australian farmers. I didn’t hear anything against farmers at all from any individual or group. It was really great to see.
My issue is that I can’t see that level of support for farmers in NZ.
We have three times the number of farmers per head of population so we can’t use the excuse that Australian farmers are closer to their town cousins. They’re actually further away.
That would be true geographically as well with a large number of Aussie farms hours if not days drive from cities.
Despite that the Australian public and their media are totally supportive of their farmers.
I went into the websites of the groups that oppose farmers in NZ, Greenpeace and SAFE.
In Australia I had little problem with the Greenpeace approach. It wants a coal-free future, renewable energy for all and the protection of forests, the oceans and the Great Barrier Reef.
Conversely, the Greenpeace NZ site wants to stop dairy before telling us the way we produce food is killing the planet.
You’d know my view on that politically inspired drivel.
Australia’s SAFE equivalent, Animal’s Australia, is mainly opposed to live sheep shipments and explained the reasons factually and unemotionally.
Here SAFE rambles about exposing dairy cruelty and farrowing crate cruelty along with a solid anti-feedlot rant.
In addition, the emotive anti-irrigation rhetoric from the anti-farming groups and some Green MP’s is given some credibility here. Why, I have no idea.
My strong belief is that if irrigation was an option in the drought-prone Australian areas the entire country would cry “Bring it on”.
So when it comes to supporting farmers you have Australia at 10 and NZ somewhere near zero.
We have a massive amount of work to do.
With other issues in Australia I found watching the Liberal leadership challenge both entertaining and interesting. They could have sold ringside seats.
It was also great to be in Australia during the two Bledisloe rugby tests. Surprisingly the Aussie media said we deserved to win, as we did. It was a far cry from other years when we’ve been there.
Finally, I loved the non-commercial radio and television of the ABC. For the record I’d sell off TV One and get a similar system here. We do need it.
