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National Farmers' Federation

Farmers welcome latest Farm Finance announcement

Eight months after the Farm Finance package was first announced by the former Government, today the Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, has confirmed that farmers in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory will soon be able to access concessional loans.
The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) has welcomed the long-awaited news, and has called on the respective governments to ensure that the funds can be accessed quickly.
“It has been an extremely long road for farmers in trying to gain access to the funding promised under the Farm Finance package,” NFF CEO Matt Linnegar said.
“Although Queensland, NSW and Victoria signed up to the deal some months ago, many farmers in these states are still waiting to access the concessional loans.
“Today we are extremely pleased to see that the South Australian, Western Australian and Northern Territory Governments have signed on to the Farm Finance package – this is a significant step forward for Minister Joyce and the new Government.
“We’re particularly pleased to see movement on the Farm Finance package given it has now been eight months since it was first announced, and farmers who were struggling then are struggling even more so now.
“There is still one state yet to sign up to the Farm Finance package – Tasmania – and we urge both the Federal Government and the Tasmanian Government to make the assistance available to Tasmanian farmers as a matter of priority.
“We believe the focus now must be ensuring that Tasmania also signs, and ensuring that the concessional loans are made available to farmers as soon as possible,” Mr Linnegar said.

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