{"id":13815,"date":"2026-05-19T00:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T00:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/13815\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T00:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T00:22:15","slug":"prime-minister-knocks-back-94-million-proposal-to-help-flooded-farmers-restock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/13815\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime minister knocks back $94 million proposal to help flooded farmers restock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Farmers who lost thousands of animals in widespread flooding this wet season have been denied federal funding to help rebuild their herd.<\/p>\n

An estimated 90,000 head of livestock were killed in several disasters in Queensland between December 2025 and April 2026.<\/p>\n

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rejected a state government proposal for a $94 million jointly funded restocking package, saying Queensland should fund it itself.<\/p>\n

The decision has angered local leaders, who say without support for the cattle industry the region’s entire economy will struggle.<\/p>\n

‘Devastating’ funding rejection<\/p>\n

The support package proposed by the state government was modelled off a similar scheme introduced after the catastrophic 2019 floods<\/a>, in which almost 500,000 animals were lost.<\/p>\n

Through the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, graziers received matched funding for up to $500,000 spent on replacing livestock, split between the state and federal governments.<\/p>\n

\"cattle<\/p>\n

Some cattle producers in north-west Queensland suffered extensive losses during the monsoonal weather event this year. (Supplied: Jaye Hall)<\/p>\n

Like in 2019, the region around Julia Creek in north-west Queensland was among those hit hardest in the most recent disaster.<\/p>\n

McKinlay Shire mayor Janene Fegan said some graziers reported even higher individual losses this time, and the request was a “no-brainer”.<\/p>\n

“I think [the restocking scheme] just gives [graziers] more hope and a future to get back on their feet and bring the industry back up to where it was,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They’re just head down, working hard, getting fences up, trying to look ahead \u2026 but there are a few that are feeling a little bit despondent.<\/p>\n

“To have that little leg-up would relieve a lot of anxiety.”<\/p>\n

\"mayor,<\/p>\n

The Queensland premier this year visited a cattle station near Julia Creek to assess the damage, with McKinlay Shire Mayor Janene Fegan.\u00a0 (ABC News: Lucy Loram)<\/p>\n

No justification<\/p>\n

Queensland Primary Industries Minister Tony Perrett said the prime minister did not provide any justification when he wrote to the premier rejecting the proposal.<\/p>\n

“There was no explanation and that’s the most disappointing part \u2026 it was just a straight out ‘no’,” he said.\"dead<\/p>\n

The widespread floods reached from Cloncurry to Richmond shires in the north-west.\u00a0 (Supplied: Cody Rogers)<\/p>\n

“It’s extremely heartbreaking and obviously going to have a significant impact, not just directly to those primary producers.<\/p>\n

“[In] all those regional towns the businesses rely on the success of those grazing businesses, primary industries, to be able to support them.”<\/p>\n

Instead, the federal government announced it would provide an additional $48 million to the joint government Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.<\/p>\n

It brings the total spend for 13 council areas affected by the Queensland Monsoon Trough, Cyclone Koji and Cyclone Narelle between December 2025 and April 2026 to $222 million.<\/p>\n

\"Cows<\/p>\n

The Queensland premier says the mental and economic impacts on producers and the town of Julia Creek are significant. (ABC News: Lucy Loram)<\/p>\n

Making the announcement, Federal Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain said the governments were working together to “ensure support is delivered where it is needed the most”.<\/p>\n

“Disaster recovery is complex, and our recovery focus has to be equally as broad,” she said.<\/p>\n

When asked about the restocking proposal, a spokesperson for the minister said the state government could choose to fund its own recovery package beyond the national arrangements.<\/p>\n

“The Queensland government is not limited by the DRFA and can make available other forms of assistance it deems necessary to support primary producers,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

But Mr Perrett said it was unlikely the state government would fund a program without federal backing.<\/p>\n

“It’s all very easy to say the state should pick up the slack on these things,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s very clear that these funding arrangements should be jointly funded between the state and federal governments as they have been for a long period of time.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Up to 100,000 head of livestock are reported to have died in the north-west Queensland floods of summer 2025\u201326. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Turned away in ‘hour of need’<\/p>\n

North West Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils chair and Etheridge Shire mayor Barry Hughes said it was a disappointing outcome.<\/p>\n

“[The federal government] turned away from us in our hour of need,” Mr Hughes said.\"a<\/p>\n

Barry Hughes says the news of no restocking funding has been a blow to outback Queensland. (ABC News: Jessica Black)<\/p>\n

He said community representatives would continue to push both governments for restocking support.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen the devastation. I’ve seen cows without calves and calves without mothers, and we’re in the tens of thousands of stock losses,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I can tell you that Queensland is in for a rough ride.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Farmers who lost thousands of animals in widespread flooding this wet season have been denied federal funding to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,14215,14217,14216,14218],"class_list":["post-13815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-floods","tag-julia-creek-floods","tag-outback-queensland-floods-2025","tag-stock-losses-outback-queensland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}