Rural debt crisis: What crisis say the banks

Rural policy failure has lead to a recognised rural debt crisis especially amongst northern cattle producers and the wheat belt of Western Australia. .
But how do you fix a problem if you don't know how big it is?

There was no QRAA rural debt survey in 2013 because the banks just refused to participate.

This youtube is a speech by Queensland Senator Barry O'Sullivan in the Senate chamber on the 27th March 2014.




With the banks refusing to participate and thereby no 2013 rural debt survey represents a significant information gap for policy development – therefore it is hard to accurately gauge the extent of the issue of debt, particularly across Northern Australia, where drought and the 2011 live export suspension have crippled communities.

The Australian Bankers Association believe there is not a rural debt issue in Queensland.

However, the latest available survey (from the Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority rural debt survey in 2011) found the beef industry total debt of $9.17 billion in 2011 was up 17.2 per cent from 2009. The beef sector represented more than half of the total rural debt in Queensland (where 66pc of the national herd can be found). The number of borrowers only increased to about 6,500, up from 5,660 in 2009.

Beef industry borrowers considered non-viable increased from less than 1 per cent to 6.9 per cent of the total pool (loan classes below A and B+) in the period.

 Given the impacts of the live export suspension decision, the ongoing drought and an extended recovery period likely, this debt position is expected to have deteriorated and the potential for significant industry debt reduction in the short-term is likely to be limited.

The banks need change their minds and participate or at least explain their decision.

Empowering Fairleigh

Alison Fairleigh recently won the Qld rural woman of the year award for her work with rural mental health advocacy and promotion of social media as an opportunity to help improve the health and well being of people in rural and remote Australia. From the 7th to 10th of April the National Rural Health Conference was held in Adelaide and as invited speaker Alison gave a truly inspirational presentation.

 

Photo sourced from Farming ahead online

 

Please click on the following link and listen to Alison Fairleigh with -

 Empowering rural communities through social media

 

Alison has a blog site called Talking Fairleigh. It has been one of the recommended places to visit by this site; the link along with the last published post can be found in the right hand column of this page under My Blog List. Another recommendation in our list is Michael Trant's, Farmers way of life whom Alison points out in her presentation as a major social media success story for rural people. The #Hadagutful campaign in WA has been a success; it has shown that a minority group, (that is what farmers are these days in Australia), can in the face of economic ruin and facing interest groups of far greater political power, can start to turn the situation around and bring hope.

 

The Knitting Nannas from the NSW Northern rivers area have shown how by thinking outside the square and using a bit of imagination that the public's attention can be captured and a message delivered with no high budget, no restriction of age and using social media.

 

As Alison indicated it was completely out of left field that a youtube appeared by a complete unknown, Cassandra McDonald which brought to a halt the efforts from a considerable public relations budget from the supermarket giant, Coles.

 

Ask An Aussie Farmer face book page has been a major success. Started a little over a year ago it now has over 4,500 likes. The description for the page reads as follows -

"We are a group that is passionate about Australian farming, with expertise and first-hand knowledge across a broad expanse of agriculture in Australia, including access to experts and professionals. We reside all over this country and some even live far away from our shores but are still involved in the diverse industries of Australian agriculture. The reason for hosting this page is so those that live, breath, know, and are enthusiastic about Aussie Ag can answer your questions and tell their stories”

The internet has been a great break through for people who live and work in regional, rural and remote areas. Social media has broken the tyranny of distance. It is no longer the case that you have to physically go to a capital city to get your point of view across; it can all be done from home at very little cost