Queensland Cane Agriculture and Renewables (QCAR) is thankful Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has answered the desperate pleas of North Queenslanders by declaring the February floods a Category D emergency.
Cairns-based Queensland Senator Nita Green announced on Wednesday morning (12 March) that impacted farmers would now be able to access Category D grants of up to $75,000 under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
QCAR Herbert District Manager Lawrence Di Bella said the higher-level grants would be lifechanging for sugarcane farmers and primary producers who had collectively taken a financial hit of hundreds of millions of dollars from the disastrous weather event.
“The grants of up to $75,000 will go a long way to easing the financial and emotional burdens of farmers, their families, and let’s not forget, the communities they live in and work in.
“Over the past few weeks, there’s been tears of grief and exhaustion as growers documented the devastating fallouts from metres of rain swamping Herbert and Burdekin farmland.
“There were craters the size of swimming pools, tonnes of trash dumped on newly planted sugarcane, headlands washed away, trees uprooted, new creeks carved through fields, dead calves littering paddocks; the list goes on.
“Now there will be tears of relief with the release of Category D grants.”
