Queensland farmers are to be given extra time to lodge their drought assistance claims with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and are being urged to lodge online due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries, Mark Furner said drought support and assistance would continue during these unprecedented times.
“COVID-19 is having an extraordinary impact on our community and economy, and as we respond to these challenges, I want to emphasise that the delivery of drought assistance is considered a critical service in our COVID-19 response,” Mr Furner said.
“I strongly encourage you to apply for drought assistance electronically as there most likely will be significant delays in postal claims and it will make it easier to distribute claims to our staff working from home for processing.”
He said scanned claims complete with copies of the relevant tax invoices could be lodged electronically with the Department by email.
“I’m extending the timeframe for receipt of applications after the invoice date from six to 12 months as some producers may also experience delays in preparing their applications,” Mr Furner said.
“This extension will apply to claims lodged from 11 March 2020 when the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a pandemic.”
He said the provision did not apply to applications that were late prior to this date.
He said he would make decisions for exemptions of older claims on a case-by-case basis.
