At the National Drought Forum, Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt and Queensland Minister for Agricultural Industry Development Mark Furner announced the finalisation of Drought Resilience Plans for five Queensland regions, ensuring preparedness for the next drought.
Councils collaborate with regional communities, farmers, and industry to develop Drought Resilience Plans, focusing on community well-being, resilient local businesses, skills development, landscapes, and collaboration.
The first five Queensland regions are Fitzroy and Capricornia, Darling Downs, Burdekin and Charters Towers, Torres Strait and Cape York, and South West Queensland.
Each region will get up to $300,000 in funding to help kick-start the implementation of key activities indicated in their plans.
Queensland regions will also be able to access up to $150,000 for an implementation officer to help put the plans into effect.
The Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program is funded by the Future Drought Fund by the Australian and Queensland governments.
Minister Watt stated that the plans were essential to the community’s drought preparedness.
“These plans represent a great deal of work by regional communities to share their experience, knowledge, and ideas. They set out how businesses, councils and people in these communities are going to prepare and hold their community together in the event of another drought,” Minister Watt said.
“Each region is unique and so each drought plan will be too. Each community can come together to share their experience and knowledge to build a plan with locally tailored actions to prepare for future droughts,” Minister Watt added.
According to Minister Furner, while most of the State was not currently experiencing drought, preparing was critical.
“We have had some regions that have only just emerged from drought status after a decade, but with an El Nino weather pattern confirmed, it means communities need to prepare,” Minister Furner said.
He explained that the plans aim to foster community resilience, involving not just farmers, by promoting collaboration and cooperation for the best possible response to future droughts.
“The Program for the pilot year received the Australian Institute of Program Management awards for the Government project, the Project of the Year in Queensland and went on to win the Government project at a national level, which celebrates Queensland’s approach to the development of these plans in the pilot year,” he added.
Assistant Minister Chisholm said the plans demonstrate the Federal Government’s commitment to providing regional and remote communities with the necessary infrastructure for resilience to severe dry spells.
“The Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program will better connect communities in these five regions with the support and services required during times of need,” Assistant Minister Chisholm stated.
“Collaboration between local governments, regional organisations and industry is key to this program benefitting those it seeks to assist. We look forward to working with those groups over the coming months.”
The Rural Economies Centre of Excellence collaborated with communities during the pilot program to develop plans.
Drought Resilience Plans for the remaining nine regions are now being developed, with completion scheduled for 2024.
