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Farmers sit idle on drought welfare
22 Sep 2008
Farmers who take jobs outside the farm to supplement their family income are ineligible for drought relief payments whilst wealthy farmers collect welfare payments under the current drought relief scheme. According to submissions to the productivity commission''s inquiry into drought relief, a rural welfare dependency is being created by exceptional circumstances funding. 41,000 farmers in drought declared areas are collecting welfare payments despite having money saved in farm management deposit accounts. The FMD accounts were introduced in 1999 to allow farmers to save in good years in order to provide for themselves in bad years. 2,000 farmers have been relying on EC drought relief payments for more than four years, while 7,000 have relied on drought funding for more than two years.
Weekend Australian, 22/09/2008
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