Barnaby Joyce demands an extra $1.3BILLION be spent helping drought-affected communities get back on their feet
- Nationals want councils in drought zones to be given $10million each
- Backbencher Barnaby Joyce warned Coalition would lose power if they didn’t
- Mr Joyce said Nationals risk losing votes to One Nation if they didn’t act
The Nationals are demanding an extra $1.3 billion be spent on drought-affected communities.
Under a 10-point plan provided to The Guardian and Sky News, the junior coalition partner is calling for councils in drought zones to be given $10million each.
The Nationals have described the drought as a ‘seminal issue for the regions’ and warned the party could lose votes to One Nation if they don’t act.
Nationals backbencher Barnaby Joyce has warned the coalition will be booted from government unless they pump more money into the drought.
The Nationals are demanding an extra $1.3 billion be spent on drought-affected communities. Pictured: A sheep drinks from a dried-up freshwater dam at a farm in Wandandian, NSW in 2018
Nationals backbencher Barnaby Joyce (pictured) has warned the coalition will be booted from government unless they pump more money into the drought
‘If this drought keeps going, you’ve got to go ahead with extra funding, otherwise you just won’t be the government,’ he said on Thursday.
‘I know the cabinet is coming forward with a package in the coming week. This has been through the National Party’s policy committee, it’s been through the Nationals’ party room, so it’s Nationals’ policy.
‘People have got to understand the Nationals are driving the drought agenda, we are driving the response to the drought, we are making absolutely certain that we’re heard.’
Mr Joyce said it was important for people to understand the Nationals were not sitting back and waiting for something to happen.
There has been some disquiet within the party about its leadership’s stance on the drought, with some concern the prime minister is stealing the party’s thunder.
‘We don’t have to travel to another town to see the drought – it’s in our town,’ Mr Joyce said.
‘We can see it every day, it’s over our back fence, I see it out my front window.
‘We understand this, we don’t need someone else to explain it to us. We are driving an agenda and making sure our people are looked after.’
Mr Joyce said it was important for people to understand the Nationals were not sitting back and waiting for something to happen. Pictured: Dead trees in the dried-up bed of the Namoi River in Walgett, NSW on October 6
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese seized on the latest leak to renew calls for a drought ‘war cabinet’.
‘At the moment, what you’ve got is the National Farmers’ Federation that have a plan, the National Party have a plan, Scott Morrison had a leak last night to one of the TV networks about a plan coming out next week,’ he told the Nine Network.
‘For goodness sake, why can’t we all sit down and put the national interest first and come up with a coordinated, comprehensive, bipartisan national drought strategy?’
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten linked the new-found Nationals interest in the drought with an internal fight within the party over the leadership.
‘There wouldn’t be internal unhappiness in the National party if the government had done the right thing on the drought,’ he told reporters in Canberra.
‘If they put as much energy into helping farm families and farm workers as they did fighting themselves then I think Australian farmers would be doing a lot better.’
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten linked the new-found Nationals interest in the drought with an internal fight within the party over the leadership. Pictured: Trucks deliver much-needed hay to drought-stricken farmers in Whitecliffs, NSW in 2018