Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says the role of Victoria’s newly formed drought task force, which she chairs, is essentially to be a clearing house for all issues and requests for support to be considered not just by government, but by broader representatives across rural and regional Victoria.

She spoke at a press conference on Friday, June 13, at Greater Shepparton City Council offices in Welsford St, flanked by other members of the task force, including City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali, Victorian Water Minister Gayle Tierney and Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking.

The group had come from its second drought task force meeting in Shepparton that day.

The Victorian Government announced three drought support packages worth $67 million last year, with the first released in September 2024.

The second was announced in early May, this year, and the third coincided with the task force’s establishment later the same month after drought conditions deteriorated statewide.

The packages include on-farm grants and assistance with mental health supports.

“We know we’ve got more work to do, and that’s why today’s meeting had a dedicated focus on two key priority areas identified by the task force last week,” Ms Allan said.

The task force met with farm finance representatives and other community representatives, who spoke about how else farmers could be supported.

“Having banks represented on the committee on the task force, they were also able to hear firsthand the experiences that are being lived right now, and talked about how they are also providing support,” Ms Allan said.

Three matters raised during the task force’s first meeting in Camperdown on June 6 were addressed in Shepparton on June 13.

A new drought freight network for the south-west of Victoria will be established to provide temporary relief to the road network, allowing bigger trucks closer to the farm gate to deliver feed and fodder.

“We have done this through increasing the tonnage by 15 tonne in terms of the size of trucks that can get in and deliver feed on the existing road network,” Ms Allan said.

Permits will be granted in as little as 24 hours and fees will be temporarily waived.

“The second matter was how can we get feed and fodder coming in from interstate into Victoria as quickly as possible,” Ms Allan said.

Instead of a 10-day wait for permits to move fodder interstate — a lengthy process due to strict biosecurity arrangements between states — they will be granted within two days if approved.

The third issue was kangaroo control.

“There’s going to be a process put in place to fast-track the control permits and also offer rebates to help farmer producers to manage this impact on their pastures in their local farming communities,” Ms Allan said.

Ms Tierney announced that the government had requested an “absolute pause on (water) buybacks”.

“We’ve also called on the Commonwealth to publicly provide the socio-economic impact document that they have been working on in relation to buybacks,” Ms Tierney said.

“I think that the region fully deserves and needs to know exactly what the consequences of buybacks actually mean.”

She said it had been a fruitful day.

“I think all task (force) members would say it has been a real game changer in hearing directly from people about the hardships that farmers are facing,” Ms Tierney said.

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