NSW Farmers let Down…..Again!

                NSW Farmers let Down…..Again! 

Do the following industries (and many more!) not contribute enough to qualify?

Will perusing through my emails earlier today, I had one from NSW Farmers with an attachment. It was their response to the release of the NSW Budget where regional and remote NSW has missed out again. It’s disheartening when there is so much that regional and rural NSW contribute to the nation, and they continually get let down, not only in this state but across the country.

The Government’s claims about doing up country roads was in fact mostly directed to major highways; $3.8 million of it. Rarely can the majority of the state have access to the benefit of these upgrades, as important as they might be.

It was also disappointing to note that no allocation for R & D was made, despite that for every $1 invested, $10 is shown in return. One such example of the consequences of the cut to R & D is the closing of the doors for Beef CRC, which contributes phenominal resources and funding for research projects for the Australian Beef industry and indeed around the globe. Other avenues have been opened up and supported for the arts, social sciences and humanities fields by the government where other avenues for funding are available as a stark contrast for the agricultural based CRC's, where they are not. It is hoped that the existing projects can 'get by' and fund themselves until further funding may be acquired within the next six months...maximum. Hopefully such places as the Department of Primary Industries will come on board, because without them, these projects simply can't go on. It is disappointing when so much money is sent overseas for R &D when organisations in our own living room can't get any. 

$80 million will be spent in Myanmar to aid children to finish primary school, train more teachers, supply textbooks and food for those that attend school, $19.5 million will go to addressing poverty in Asia over a 3 year contract and a further $25 million will go to the World Food Programme to aid in alleviating hunger in the developing world. I am not saying that these initiatives aren't important. I do however pose the question, that with the current homelessness rate in Australia estimated to be 105000 people at any given night alone, do we not have an obligation to not only find homes for these people but to also find them jobs so they can sustain themselves. In the last 25 years, the amount of 'boat-people' or 'asylum seekers', has jumped from 111 to almost 5000 per year, where we are happy to keep them in detention centres, providing them with food, water and shelter. Providing much more than to those of our own on the streets. And couldn't some of those funds go towards supporting our nation and the very industries that uphold its backbone?

“Agriculture is an important contributor to the NSW economy. It generates more than $8.4 billion annually and employs 74,000 people full time. More importantly, it is the backbone of thousands of rural communities throughout NSW.”

With these figures, why can’t the NSW regional, rural and remote communities get a break? They might  just simply start packing their bags...