Senator O'Brien asked the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, upon notice, on 9 June 1999:

(1) What programs and/or grants administered by the Minister's department provide assistance to people living in the federal electorate of Bass.

(2) What was the level of funding provided through these programs and grants for the 1997-98 and 1998-99 financial years.

(3) What level of funding provided through these programs and grants has been appropriated for the 1999-2000 financial year."

Senator Alston (Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) —The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) The following programs are available in the federal electorate of Bass

The Exceptional Circumstances Relief Payment (ECRP) assists farm families in Exceptional Circumstances (EC) areas who are experiencing difficulties meeting personal living expenses. The ECRP is currently available to farmers on Flinders Island, which was declared in drought exceptional circumstances on 8 April 1998.

EC interest rate subsidies are available to drought affected farmers on Flinders Island.

The Farm Family Restart Scheme (FFRS) which provides income support, professional counselling and re-establishment grants is available to all eligible farmers on a national basis.

Under the State component of the FarmBis Program, farmers and farm managers can access support to identify learning needs, link them to the appropriate courses and receive financial support to undertake business and continuous learning development

The program is funded on a 50:50 basis between the Commonwealth and the State. Eligible producers living in the electorate of Bass can participate in the program. The monitoring and evaluation database for the program will only record postcodes of participants and data on an electorate basis will not be available.

Assistance is available through all programs under the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) that are administered by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. These programs are the National Landcare Program, National Rivercare Program, Farm Forestry Program and Fisheries Action Program.

The Tasmanian Wheat Freight Scheme (TWFS) provides direct assistance for the costs of shipping wheat from the mainland to Tasmania. This assistance has flow-on benefits to consumers and end users of wheat and wheat products in Tasmania. Assistance provided to the federal electorate of Bass under the TWFS is not identified separately within the program.

AQIS provides, on an ongoing basis as required, a range of export certification and quarantine services in this electorate. These services are consistent with those provided anywhere else in Australia.

(2) The level of funding provided through these programs and grants for the 1997-98 and 1998-99 financial years was

On Flinders Island, there were 18 ECRP recipients at the end of May 1999 and 21 farmers who were approved for support under the EC interest rate subsides.

Expenditure for the EC programs available in the federal electorate of Bass (on Flinders Island) in 1997-98 and 1998-99 is summarised in the following table.

Information on the FFRS is not available on an electorate basis. In Tasmania, there were 64 FFRS income support recipients at the end of May 1999 with a total of 130 farm families in Tasmania who have benefited from FFRS income support since it commenced in December 1997. Expenditure for FFRS income support in Tasmania during 1998-99 (up to 31 May) has totalled around $0.96 million.

Nil funds were allocated in 1997-98. The FarmBis program commenced in Tasmania on 17 February 1999. The amount allocated state wide for the FarmBis program from the Commonwealth for 1998-99 was $120,000

Funding provided through the National Landcare, National Rivercare, Farm Forestry and Fisheries Action Programs to the electorate of Bass amounted to $280,251 in 1997-98 and $323,840 in 1998-99.

$1.2 million of funding was provided under the TWFS in each of the 1997-98 and 1998-99 financial years.

(3) The level of funding appropriated for the 1999-2000 financial year through these programs and grants is as follows:

EC funding is demand driven and sufficient funds to meet all approved claims for support under both the ECRP and EC interest rate subsidies will be made available. Assuming comparable recipient numbers continue during 1999-2000 a similar level of expenditure to 1998-99 can be expected.

Overall (national) funding to the FFRS income support in 1999-2000 is expected to be $22.354 million. The expected expenditure has been revised from that shown in the AFFA Portfolio Budget Statements by a letter of 1 June 1999 from the AFFA Chief Financial Officer to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee. Funds are provided to farm families which have been approved for assistance regardless of their location. FFRS funds are not allocated on a regional or State basis.

The amount allocated state wide for the FarmBis program from the Commonwealth for 1999-2000 is $488,000.

The Tasmanian Minister for Primary Industries, Water and Environment, Minister Llewellyn, has submitted a State bid for NHT funding for 1999-2000, which is currently under consideration. NHT funds are not appropriated on an annual basis.

$1.2 million has been appropriated for the TWFS for the 1999-2000 financial year.