Australia’s peak volunteer organisation for helping farmers is continuing its work despite waiting months for the Federal Government to help it.
In July, Lions Need for Feed volunteers took more than 1000 bales of donated fodder, and other assistance, to King Island.
But the organisation’s request to defray the cost of transport by boat is still waiting for Federal Government assistance.
More than 2000 bales of donated fodder have recently been distributed by Lions Need for Feed to farmers in drought in south-west Victoria and King Island.
The army of volunteers that underpins Lions Need for Feed are making their next expedition to south-east South Australia, on September 13 to 15.
But the cost of transporting fodder to King Island in July is still being borne by the voluntary organisation, while it waits to hear from the Federal Government about an application for freight assistance.
Graham Cockerell, coordinator of Lions Need for Feed, said he was still waiting to hear that the cost to transport 500 bales of fodder by boat, was going to be reimbursed to the organisation.
And the lack of guarantees to cover further freight costs could hold up further fodder distributions to Tasmanian farmers in drought.
“A variation has been made to the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme (TFES) to allow for charities to take supplies to Tasmania, King Island and Flinders Island,” he said.
“Fodder has to go by boat, of course, to get to King Island.”
The Tasmanian Government provided a subsidy for transport of the first delivery of fodder, with just over 500 donated bales delivered to farmers in need in mid-May.
The cost of boat transport for the second delivery of 500 donated bales, in late July, is still being borne by Lions Need for Feed.
“Hopefully we’re also getting something from the Federal Government to help with transport costs,” Graham said.
In mid-July, prior to the trucks being loaded onto the boat to King Island, Senator Carol Brown, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, signed a ministerial direction to enable charities to apply for TFES. TFES is administered by the Federal Government.
The variation is supposed to be retrospective, so could assist with a shortfall being borne by Lions Need for Feed from their May delivery.
Reimbursement is critical for the volunteer organisation, which is recognised by all state and territory governments and the Commonwealth as the leading provider of emergency fodder to Australia’s farmers in times of need.
Since Lions Need for Feed was established in 2006, volunteers have delivered more than $45 million of aid to farmers affected by bushfire, floods and drought.
In the aftermath of the 2019-20 bushfires, 700 truckloads of fodder helped farmers to keep feeding their livestock in the aftermath, during clean up and initial recovery.
The floods on the eastern seaboard of the past couple of years has seen more than 500 truckloads of fodder donated and distributed to farmers.
These deliveries are often accompanied by household hampers, personal care packs, Lions teddy bears and other toys, and dog food.
Graham said further assistance was being requested by farmers in Australia’s southernmost state.
“We’ve got some fodder ready to go to farmers on Flinders Island,” he said.
“We’re just waiting for a boat to be available.
“We’ve got requests from Tasmanian farmers to send fodder to them. We’re talking to the government about what we can do over there, and if they’ll back it.
“Transport on the boat is the biggest cost.”
Help for farmers in South Australia and Western Australia is being collated. A convoy will deliver fodder to farmers in South Australia for the weekend of September 13 to 15.
“We’re taking supplies to the south-east corner of South Australia, which is in the same position as south-west Victoria,” Graham said.
“They’ve had the lowest 12 months rainfall on record. It’s surprising for that part of the world.
“We can’t take fodder into Western Australia, but we can take pellets to those farmers.”
Lions Need for Feed can organise the collection of fodder and other donations from a donor’s property.
Deliveries of fodder are coordinated from storage depots, with further volunteers donating their time in convoys of trucks.
Now in its 18th year, Lions Need for Feed was adopted as a national project of Lions Australia in 2020.
The total value of aid delivered through donations over the life of the project to date is more than $45 million.