The evolution of drought policy in Western Australia

Appendix 3: Pilot of Drought Reform Measures

The Australian Government, in partnership with the State Government, conducted a pilot of drought reform measures in parts of Western Australia. The pilot tested a package of new measures developed in response to the national review of drought policy. The measures were designed to move from a crisis management approach to risk management. The aim was to better support farmers, their families and rural communities in preparing for future challenges, rather than waiting until they are in crisis to offer assistance.

The pilot was initially in place from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011, yet due to high demand for the initial pilot, the Australian and Western Australian Governments agreed to phase 2 of the Drought Reform Pilot. Phase 2 rolled out in 2011-2012 and encompassed the entire south west region of the State, extending the pilot area from 67 to 130 shires.

The seven drought reform measures that were tested included:

1. Farm Planning: The Farm Planning Workshops assisted farm businesses to develop or update a strategic plan for their farm business. The plan identified priority activities to help improve the management and preparedness of the farm business to respond to future challenges.
2. Building farm businesses: The Building farm businesses program provided grants to eligible farm businesses in two components: Business Adaptation Grants for eligible activities identified in the strategic plan that helped farm businesses prepare for the impacts of drought, reduced water availability and climate variability and Landcare Adaptation Grants for eligible activities identified in the strategic plan with a natural resource management focus and having a broader public benefit.
3. Stronger rural communities: This suite of measures aimed to assist rural communities prepare for and manage agriculture–related hardship to build social capital and community networks, and to encourage participation in social networks and community events.
4. Farm social support: This measure provided support for better coordinated social support networks to meet the mental health, counselling and other social needs of farming families and rural communities.
5. Farm family support: Income support for farmers facing financial hardship, allowing them to meet basic household expenses.
6. Farm exit support: The Farm exit support program aimed to help farmers in significant financial difficulty to re-establish themselves in careers other than farming. Three grants were available to assist eligible farmers:

• The Farm exit support grant provided up to $150 000 to eligible farm businesses who sold their farm during the pilot period.
• The Farm exit support advice and retraining grant provided up to $10 000 to access to professional advice and re-training.
• The Farm exit relocation grant provided up to $10 000 to recipients of the Farm exit support grant to help with relocation and retraining expenses. 

1. Beyond farming: Beyond farming put current farmers in touch with former farmers to talk about opportunities outside of farming. 

The Pilot of Drought Reform Measures was the recipient of the 2012 Economic Development Australia Award. The success of the pilot is evident in the positive response from the majority of the participants. Most participants recorded an increase in confidence and ability to cope with and manage drought and climate variability.