Queensland farmers are no strangers to natural disasters. Looking back on the last 12 months alone, substantial areas of the state have grappled with fires, floods, cyclones, and severe storms, creating significant impacts for the agriculture sector and its supply chain.
With the recent release of the spring 2024 bushfire forecast showing large areas of Queensland under increased fire risk, now is an important time for farmers and landholders to revisit their emergency plans.
QFF are calling for a range of policy and funding changes to be adopted by government after next month’s election to enhance the state’s disaster preparedness, response, and recovery initiatives.
QFF and our peak body members are asking political parties to commit to a long-term investment in a ‘spine of resources’ to support the state’s primary producers across this preparedness, response and recovery cycle.
This ‘spine of resources’, which would take the form of on-ground personnel, would represent a shift away from the status quo of reactionary, delayed and short-term recovery processes that are failing our farmers and taking far too long to bring agribusinesses back on-line after a disaster.
The current recovery framework which is seeing delays of up to 18 months to get support on-the-ground after a severe weather event are unacceptable. By shifting to embedded resilience throughout the natural disaster cycle, farmers will have increased capacity to proactively manage risk and be supported to prepare as best as they can for weather events.
QFF and our members would also like to see changes to various guidelines administered by Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) that are overly restrictive.
These include the exclusion of in ground and tree crops as eligible recovery activity, the exclusion of normal employee wages as an eligible cost for the immediate resumption of business, as well as the limited scope of who a primary producer is for the purposes of disaster assistance.
It makes no sense to focus on reducing emissions without the development and implementation of a broader climate adaptation strategy. With Australia contributing just over 1% of global emissions, farmers and regional communities are going to be dealing with weather events long after we achieve a net zero target. Climate adaptation, preparedness and risk management must be a priority.