A consultative committee from the Future Drought Fund has launched a six-week public consultation period to collect comments and suggestions from the public on how to tackle the drought crisis.
Minister for Drought, David Littleproud said the consultations would help inform the committee on the best ways for the Future Drought Fund to make allocations for drought resilience.
“The fund will provide $100 million each year from 1 July 2020 for projects that enhance our preparations and responses to drought,” Mr Littleproud said.
“The committee is particularly interested in hearing from farmers, local communities and industry organisations.”
He said there were three foundation pillars to tackle drought.
“First is to give support to farmers for the here and now; second is to back drought-affected communities, and the third pillar is looking to the future to build resilience via the Future Drought Fund,” Mr Littleproud said.
He said improved drought resilience could come from new tools, technologies or techniques that helped farmers better manage their natural resources.
“It could come from better financial and business planning for lower income periods. Or it could come from better, more localised weather data and improved climate forecasting,” he said.
“This is the opportunity for our farmers, industry and rural communities to have a significant contribution on how we prepare for future droughts.”
He invited people to have their say on the draft Drought Resilience Funding Plan by visiting the Have Your Say: Future Drought Fund website.
