Drought assistance information evening
NSW Farmers are organising a Q & A session on drought support at the CWA hall in Byng Street, Orange at 7pm on Tuesday August 14.
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Orange branch chair Bruce Reynolds said that the evening was to help farmers understand the implications of the new funding announcements made by the state and federal governments.
“There is a need for producers to learn what they are potentially eligible for and to encourage them not to assess themselves,” he said.
Mr Reynolds said that information will be available from the government and community bodies involved in the handling of the funding, and also some assistance from mental health professionals.
“The CWA will also be there detailing what they can offer the farmers with their programs,” he said.
Mr Reynolds said that NSW Farmers were there to help point people in the right direction, and how they go about apply for the assistance as some of them can be quite time consuming.
“There is a lot of paper work involved,” Mr Reynolds said, “Particularly with farm household support there is a lot of work involved as you need a rural finance counsellor to assist you with that application,” he said.
Mr Reynolds said that visitors on the evening shouldn’t expect to be able to fill out any of the forms on the night, it was all about understanding what was now on offer.
“We want to make sure that people are able to connect with the right people, but there may be follow up phone calls where they find out where to connect with the right person to assist them,” he said.
More power given to cull roos
The drought has seen an explosion of kangaroos competing with stock for both food and water.
The roadsides are littered with struck carcasses as the roos utilise the longer grass for feed.
In response the NSW government, as part of their drought strategy, have approved the new approach which will allow farmers to apply for licences over the phone or via email, to cull kangaroos, and more shooters will be able to operate on a property under the same licence.
Under the new system, carcasses will no longer need to be tagged and left in the paddock and landholders will be able to use the carcass for a range of non-commercial purposes such as bait meat.
There will also be increased limits on the number of kangaroos that may be culled, based on property size.
Previous and current licence holders can apply for licences over the phone.