Community
21 August, 2025
Calls for greater drought support
A VISIT from one of the state’s most prominent radio programs has provided a platform for south west Victorians to raise their voices on the devastation they face with the ongoing drought.
The Terang Recreation Reserve last week became a hub of operations for ABC Radio Melbourne’s Drive with Ali Moore.
Among those in attendance was Corangamite Shire Council mayor councillor Kate Makin, Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett and United Dairy Farmers of Victoria president Bernie Free.
Cr Makin, who owns a 100-acre farm and a veterinary business in addition to her council responsibilities, said she was seeing the impact the drought was having on farmers first-hand.
“It’s hard,” she said.
“I see it every day, farmers are struggling and I feel like we need to do more for them.
“It’s hard on everyone because it’s biting behind the farmer’s gate now and impacting our small, rural communities – and we need to support them as much as we can.
“Our shire can’t survive without this industry – we produce 24 per cent of Australia’s milk right here in Corangamite and our region relies on the dollars generated from the industry.
“The government needs to start listening and needs to start understanding what is happening here in south west Victoria.”
Cr Makin, who is a member of the Victorian Government’s Drought Response Taskforce which formed in June, said another meeting was needed to ensure pre-emptive action on new support could be taken rather than reacting when it was too late.
She said the taskforce had met three times prior to the Victorian Government announcing an additional $75 million to bring the drought support package to $144 million in early July, but had not met since.
“The taskforce needs to meet again to reassess what’s going on because this drought is definitely not over,” Cr Makin said.
“We are struggling and if we don’t get a wet spring, farmers are going to be back out there trucking the water in again and again.
“They’ll still be struggling for feed, so we need support and we need it now – not in six months’ time.”
Corangamite shire councillor Jamie Vogels, himself a farmer based in Scotts Creek, said support such as zero interest loans for primary producers and a rethink of the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) levy was needed.
“The drought is increasingly taxing, especially when the government is taxing increasingly,” he said.
“Things are pooling together to create issues from multiple directions – there is already a cost-of-living crisis, we already are two years into the drought and we started the year cutting back on all infrastructure, upgrades and equipment purchases.
“It’s all leading to farmers borrowing large amounts of money as well as destocking due to the water and feed problems, reduced income and young stock which aren’t making weight.
“There’re problems now but also future problems which stem from one thing on top of another, on top of another, on top of another.
“Generally, for myself and the farms around me, people have got no financial or mental resilience left – people are going to have post-traumatic stress disorder from drought, they’re going to be in a panic about water.”
United Dairy Farmers of Victoria president Bernie Free said the region had been under drought conditions for two years and yet still he felt farmers were being ignored.
“The government needs to listen to what western Victorians are telling them about how bad the drought is and the help they need,” he said.
“We need both long- and short-term solutions including zero interest loans for a couple of years at least.
“We need proper rate relief, not just forty per cent, which gives you an indication of how bad things are in western Victoria because it’s not just the farmers being affected, but the rest of the community as well.”
Mr Free said greater action was needed as the financial impact on farmers was hurting businesses in every town, in a cycle he fears could continue for years to come.
“It’s not just the farmers who are hurting,” he said.
“It looks green but we should have six inches of grass more than we do.”
“A lot of people are talking about how they’re not going to make silage or hay, so they’re going to struggle for another nine months just to feed their animals and that’s going to have a flow-on effect for two-to-five years from both a financial and mental perspective of people in the industry.
“This only hurts our local communities.”
Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett joined Mr Free in calling for action.
“It’s very disappointing how the Labor Government has gone to date in confronting the real issues,” he said.
“They’ve got a complete inability to understand the scale – whether they want to know is another question.
“If they lack the technical resources, that’s fine, but please put your hand up and gather it in.
“We have to have a considered opinion because the value for Corangamite Shire alone is a billion dollars.”
Mr Bennett said the government needed to work with local knowledge to develop a clear strategy and adequate support measures.
“They don’t need a heap of sycophants who are going to get upset with what they hear – they just have to hear the truth and deal with it, otherwise it’s going to get significantly worse,” he said.
“We really can’t afford that.
“The deterioration of confidence is extremely apparent and farmers are feeling completely rejected, unheard and quite frankly depressed about the whole thing.
“At the end of the day, they’re having to liquidate their herds down a significant scale – back to where they were seven-to-10 years ago, and those cows don’t produce milk.”
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