Seymour flood hearing reports by Jordyn Grubisic
Frustrated and forgotten is how the Victorian Farmers Federation, VFF, say farmers and regional Victorians felt following the 2022 October flood events.
During the 2022 floods 15,600 livestock deaths were reported to Agriculture Victoria, 12,000 kilometres of fencing damaged, more than 150,000 tonnes of hay and fodder damaged and destroyed and nearly 500,000 hectares of farmland impacted.
Speaking after the Seymour hearing of the Inquiry into the 2022 Flood Event in Victoria, VFF president Emma Germano said lack of implementation following previous inquiries frustrated previous contributors and communities.
“I think people feel very frustrated contributing to inquiries like this one when there are recommendations from previous inquiries that have not been adopted or put in place from the government,” she said.
“Often after an event like this happens, we have inquiries and we try to investigate what happened and we come up with recommendations to prevent the impact of these events on the community in the future.
“What we feel like, and the local farmers feel, is that we are re-prosecuting the same recommendations … [the] same arguments and trying to point out the same issues that we face, as a sector and as regional Victorians, over and over again.
“Often we see that a government inevitably fails to take action to prevent the likes of these things happening again and thinking about ways we can reduce or mitigate the impact of these sorts of events.”
Ms Germano said regional Victorians felt isolated as if there was ‘two states in Victoria’.
“It is communities who are left to their own devices and particularly the farming community being left to their own devices,” she said.
“Calls started coming into the VFF and myself personally as [each] flood event was unfolding. There was such a sense of frustration.
“We saw media announcements from both the Premier and Prime Minister talking about the impact on the community and at no point was the farming community or the agricultural industry mentioned as one of the communities impacted profoundly by this event.
“I’ll stress they deserve to be taken care of as members of the community like every other Victorian.”
The VFF submission emphasised the importance of engaging with relevant stakeholders, including farmers, to ensure mitigation measures are practical, sustainable and context specific; promoting and identifying flood mitigation and preparedness measures including improved early warning systems; thorough examination of existing drainage infrastructure and identifying areas requiring upgrades including regional roads; and immediate and long-term support needs of flood-affected farmers including financial and mental health supports.
Difficulties with grant and loan applications were also brought to attention.
Nick Stecher, a banker and farm owner alongside his brother Richard who is managing director of Stetcher Agricultural Services, said in his experience, the Rural Finance Loan process had been ‘quite opaque and drawn out’.
“I can’t help but sympathise with people who are coming to this under financial duress or vulnerable applicants,” he said.
“One point that I think is pertinent to raise is, having worked during the banking Royal Commission, some of this is eerily similar to banks being found operating outside of responsible lending guidelines with slow response times, untimely communication and unclear application processes.
“So it definitely has that feel about it and I can’t help but think about farmers struggling to access it more so than us.”
Questions were asked following submissions including Member for North-Eastern Metropolitan and Environment and Planning Committee chair Sonja Terpstra asking the Stecher brothers whether automation of their farming practices could mitigate adverse effects from the floods and whether they had an individual flood plan.
Ms Germano was disappointed by some of the questions.
“It’s discouraging when we hear lines of questioning as if farmers could be doing more when we’re in a system where farmers do everything they can to farm in the environment that they’re in,” she said.
“For there to be a line of questioning as to whether or not farmers could be preparing more was a little disappointing but hopefully with so much public interest in this inquiry we might see some action.”
Member for Eurora Annabelle Cleeland was also disappointed by some of the questioning.
“There was repeated questions from the chair around individual preparedness and as a community, I think that’s just total disregard of the trauma and the disaster we’ve gone through and the inadequate response from the state when it comes to the relief but also the emergency warnings,” she said.
Read more from the hearing:
