Kempsey farmers and locals calling for more floods support
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We've been following the plight of people on the mid-north coast in the Hunter Valley very closely over the past month since I was broadcasting the program from Taree in the days after the floods and there has been so much frustration from everybody that I've spoken to from farmers to small business operators to locals about the way this flood and the emergency has been classified. Well there was another protest in Kempsey yesterday and more than a thousand people turned out to take part in this demonstration and the reason there is so much frustration

is that this disaster had been categorised as a C. Now what that means is primary producers, farmers, they're entitled to government grants that are worth $25,000. But this is what's very confusing. From everybody that I've spoken to, they all tell me that the damage suffered during this flood crisis is a lot worse than what was suffered in this particular area in 2021-2022. Yet that was a category D and this is a category C.

Well, today the Minns government has now put an application in for Category D classification. It's the federal government that actually makes the decision on that. It's not the Chris Minns government. They have waited a while to actually put this application in, but they have now done it, better late than never. Michael Jeffery is a dairy farmer. He is the chair of Norco and took part in these protests yesterday. Thanks for joining us, Michael.

Thanks very much, Clint. I can really understand why you're so frustrated because I saw the damage that many people suffered, particularly around Taree, and it looked far worse than what is considered Category C.

Oh, without a doubt. And it's, you know, the Taree area has been hit by a one in 500 year event here on the Maclay in the Kempsey area, like a lot of other areas up and down the coast. This last flood has been higher than a lot of the other events that have been classified category D in the past. It's good that it appears the state government's now reacting, putting in this application, but it's still a decision for the federal government. So they seem to all be waiting a long time to make these changes.

Far too long. Far too long. Clinton, I think we're about, what, 39, 40 days after the event now.

Farmers, small business owners have got to make serious decisions in a timely manner. We've got farmers that have got to make decisions. Do they cull more cattle to try and afford to buy the hay that feeds the rest of the herd? These are critical decisions that should have been made weeks ago. And I think that's just added to the frustration that this whole process has just taken so long and everybody feels as though we've been ignored.

And timeliness is important for farmers. I mean, many of our listeners aren't farmers, obviously, Michael. We broadcast primarily to Sydney. But just explain to me, you mentioned, you know, the decisions on feed, on hay. Why is it important that a fast decision was made?

Well, look, it's an incredibly tight hay market. It's incredibly expensive. To give you an idea, in the first three weeks after the flood, for my own farm, I had to spend over $100,000 on four B double loads of hay. It's $26,000 a B double load, and we go through a B double load a week. Now, they're the sort of decisions that farmers have got to make almost on a daily basis. Do they cull more cows? No.

how do they find a way forward? How do they fix some of the damage that occurred? In reality, we're not even at the stage of even thinking about fixing some of the damage that's occurred. We're just trying to keep our cattle healthy and well fed. So tell me about your experience, Michael. How is your farm?

Look, we were completely underwater. We've reduced our milking herd from about 350 to 210. Production's now significantly faster destroyed. Our laneways, which are very expensive to fix, have been destroyed. And, you know, as I said, we've already purchased over $100,000 and I've ordered another $26,000 worth of hay today. And you guys do it tough enough dealing with the big supermarket chains as it is, I'd suspect.

Well, look, I think this is the key point. Farmers don't want a handout. We don't want a handout. The trading environment that we have to operate in is largely determined by government and government policies to a degree. The impact of the floods, government decisions

decisions and government policy has an impact on that when we consider the increased pork and flow because of levies around towns or highway bypasses. There's just not the margin there for farmers to be able to cop this sort of a hit.

and this money, if it does come through, isn't just for the individual farmers. That money will get spent back in the local community and supports local businesses that are also struggling, and there's a huge multiplier effect from any funding that comes into the region. Keep up the fight, Michael. The attention now turns to the federal government. It'll be their decision whether this is a Category D. It should be. Thank you, mate.

Thank you very much for your time. Michael Jeffery, who's a dairy farmer, the chair of Norco, took part in the protest yesterday at Kempsey. So the men's government finally has done the right thing here, putting an application for Category D disaster funding. It's now up to the feds.