Dairy Roundtable meetings were held in regional Victoria in early December 2016 to hear the opinions of dairy farmers regarding the assistance being offered to them.

The meetings were prompted by the increasing frustration caused by the delays experienced when applying for FHA which is often taking six months.

Senator Bridget McKenzie chaired the meetings while the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources was represented by Greg Williamson and Department of Human Services by Melissa Ryan.

Independent Member for Indi Cathy McGowan who had lobbied to to initiate the meetings was also at the table at the Tangambalanga meeting.

AgBiz Assist was represent by EO Nerida Kerr at the Tangambalanga meeting and RFCC Chris Howard at the Congupna meeting where they were able to explain the assistance that is availble through the rural financial counselling services.

The Border Mail reported that "...About 50 North-East dairy farmers attended the first of four forums across Victoria this week, chaired by Victorian Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie, to hear from dairy farmers about the delivery of assistance measures, including the Farm Household Allowance.

Many were moved to tears as they told of hardships following the retrospective farmgate milk price cuts in April.

The common theme was that applying for assistance through Centrelink was complicated and bogged down by bureaucratic red tape, while most at the meeting said they were still waiting for their support packages to be processed...."

Read the full report from the Border Mail here

Photo credit - The Border Mail