Mr Andren asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, upon notice, on 31 May 1998:

Is assistance under the Pig Producer Exit Plan (PPEP) available to pig producers receiving assistance under the Family Farm Restart Scheme (FFRS); if not, (a) why not and (b) will the Government consider extending coverage of the PPEP to recipients of assistance under the FFRS; if not, why not.

Mr Vaile (Trade) —The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

The Guidelines for the Pork Producer Exit Program (PPEP) containing a number of eligibility criteria specifying that Recipients will only be eligible for financial assistance under either the FFRS or PPEP but not both. A number of applicants have read this as meaning that a recipient of FFRS income support is precluded from the PPEP. The policy intention of this part of the PPEP Guidelines was to prevent "double dipping" into both the FFRS and PPEP. To clarify this, I recently agreed that the Guidelines should be interpreted to mean that a recipient of FFRS income support should not be excluded from the PPEP. A recipient of FFRS income support is eligible for the PPEP provided that—

. the applicant would otherwise be eligible for the PPEP; and

. an amount equal to the sum of any FFRS income support paid to the applicant is deducted from any PPEP exit assistance in the same manner as an amount equal to the sum of any FFRS income support is deducted from any FFRS re-establishment grant.