The head of the North Queensland Livestock Recovery Agency has encouraged North West farmers affected by the floods to get their grant applications in as soon as possible.
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NQLIRA CEO Shane Stone was visiting the region last week and he told the North West Star that the number of applications for the $400,000 dollar-for-dollar grants were still well down on what was expected.
"We ask people have you applied and they say they haven't and we ask why not, and they say 'I want to understand what my predicament is'," Mr Stone said.
"Now my reply is, don't pussyfoot around, get your application in and once you are approved you can come back any time up to five years so why wouldn't you have this in your back pocket."
The grants can be used for restocking lost livestock, replanting lost or damaged crops or permanent plantings or restoring or replacing lost or damaged on-farm infrastructure.
Mr Stone advised landholders to talk to QRIDA or the Rural Financial Counselling Service for advice.
He said people were bearing up well but were not out of the woods.
"Allied health professionals tell us they haven't found a single suicide due to the floods but we think the worst has yet to come," he said.
"Now they've done the muster they've got a better idea of what damage they've suffered and when they do their calculations on 'will I have a steer for export, no I won't' therefore they won't have a revenue stream and and how are they going to get through all this."
Mr Stone's listening tour has taken him all over North Queensland.
"We've travelled over 3000km and we've been looking at everything from sugar cane to horticulture to bees to barramundi farms," he said.
Mr Stone said they were collating the findings from landholders and they would be putting it together for the federal government.
Mr Stone said there were two parts to the NQLIRA five year letter of charter.
"It was to repair, hence the restocking and the infrastructure etc, the other part is to tell the government what we need to do to mitigate against damage in the future," he said.
"You're not going to stop another flood like that but you might have better warning systems in place, better road infrastructure or lifted the bridges out of the water."
Mr Stone said they would present their findings to the prime minister by November.
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
