Dear Prime Minister, if you’re reading this, we desperately need you to declare the disastrous North Queensland floods a Category D emergency, to prove your government has the backs of Aussie farmers and the communities dependent on them.
Mr Albanese, we urge you to make this declaration before calling the federal election.
Unlocking Category D Disaster Assistance is vital to the hundreds of North Queenslanders in the agricultural sector, and their families, who are struggling with the financial, emotional, and physical battles resulting from a weather event that accrued hundreds of millions worth of damages.
Senator Susan McDonald with QCAR Herbert District member and sugarcane farmer, Gino Zatta, who worked through the night to help repair Ollera Creek Bridge.Caroline and Trevor Crisp, of Helens Hill, are facing more than $200,000 in damages after the devastating floods in Ingham. Picture: Heidi PetithCaroline and Trevor Crisp inspect the onslaught of boulders and trees that were washed Paluma Range by the intense floodwater.Caroline and Trevor Crisp inspect the onslaught of boulders and trees that were washed Paluma Range by the intense floodwater.The Crisp family have lost at least 50 cattle because of prolonged exposure to the elements during the flooding disaster that hit Ingham and other parts of North Queensland in February.The Crisp family have lost at least 50 cattle because of prolonged exposure to the elements during the flooding disaster that hit Ingham and other parts of North Queensland in February.QCAR Herbert District member Chris Butler has extensive damage to his Ingham region sugarcane farm from the flooding disaster.QCAR Herbert District member Chris Butler has extensive damage to his Ingham region sugarcane farm from the flooding disaster.QCAR Herbert District member Chris Butler has extensive damage to his Ingham region sugarcane farm from the flooding disaster.QCAR Herbert District member Walter Giordani has extensive damage to his Ingham region sugarcane farm from the flooding disaster.QCAR Herbert District Member Michael Waring will receive no financial support to replant his ratoon crop lost in the floods.Hinchinbrook Shire Council Mayor Ramon Jayo is facing an expensive recovery ahead with water carving through his paddocks.QCAR Herbert District member Ian Kemp has taken a significant financial hit from the flooding disaster in Ingham.QCAR Herbert District member Ian Kemp has taken a significant financial hit from the flooding disaster in Ingham.QCAR Herbert District member Angelo Rivellini has taken a significant financial hit from the flooding disaster in Ingham.QCAR Herbert District member Angelo Rivellini has taken a significant financial hit from the flooding disaster in Ingham.Floodwaters in the region caused extensive damage to irrigation fluming, as seen in this sugarcane paddock in the Giru region.Ingham region farmer Luke Roveda is ineligible for the Category C Disaster Assistance grants as most of his income, including what he earns as a harvesting contractor, does not come from his sugarcane farm.Ingham region farmer Luke Roveda is ineligible for the Category C Disaster Assistance grants as most of his income, including what he earns as a harvesting contractor, does not come from his sugarcane farm.Ingham region farmer Luke Roveda is ineligible for the Category C Disaster Assistance grants as most of his income, including what he earns as a harvesting contractor, does not come from his sugarcane farm.
QCAR is urging cane farming organisations to back its call to also cover first and second ratoon crops in the proposal for financial support towards replanting of destroyed cane.
QCAR estimates there could be up to one million less tonnes of cane cut across the Herbert this year, resulting in between $25 to $50 million in economic losses.
QCAR met with Senator Susan McDonald and Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto in Townsville and was joined remotely by Premier David Crisafulli in Ingham, to push for the state and federal governments to declare a Category D emergency and unlock funding for flood-affected farmers.
2025 
2025 
