Primary producers rally for maximum government support to survive climate disasters

Hundreds across the Mid North Coast are urgently seeking increased financial support for primary producers and small businesses in the area who were severely impacted by the May flood event. The devastating flooding left more than 800 homes uninhabitable, with over 5000 insurance claims recorded and five lives lost. 

Community members and local representatives are calling on the state and federal government to announce a Category D natural disaster declaration, which would increase grant amounts for primary producers and businesses to the maximum thresholds.

Currently, grants of up to $25,000 are available for small businesses, primary producers and not-for-profits to help them recover.

Category D funding could provide grants of up to $75,000 for primary producers and $50,000 for small businesses.

“Still waiting”

On Monday, June 23, hundreds gathered by the banks of the Manning River in Taree calling for additional financial support. A week later, hundreds more rallied in Kempsey.

National Party members representing the Mid North Coast on a state and federal level are advocating for the increased support and are voicing concerns over the delayed action.

In a media release, Nationals Member for Cowper, Pat Conaghan, said the government needs to act faster in order to help local farmers, small businesses, and councils build back after the floods.

“The destruction caused in the Macleay and Nambucca Valleys surpassed the 2021 floods when Cat D was declared within a week and yet we are still waiting and being forced to beg for help,” Conaghan said.

“Over the past few weeks, I have visited properties and spoken to farmers and businesses who are on their knees and about to be forced to walk away from, what are in some cases, generational properties.”

Macleay Valley beef cattle farmer, Jack Henshaw, told the Mid North Coaster cash flow for the next 12 months to two years will be significantly impacted due to stock losses, weight losses, and damage to infrastructure.

“I think, for thousands of farmers in the Macleay Valley, if we can't get the additional help and support from the state and federal government, a lot of them will not be able to continue farming anymore – the financial impact would be too great,”  Henshaw said.

Nationals’ Member for Oxley, Michael Kemp, echoed Conaghan’s concerns.

“In 2021 we had a significant flood with Cat D,” said Kemp. “In 2022 we had two floods that were significant and got Cat D funding. And the flood in 2025 was higher than all three of them,” Kemp said.

Application in the hands of the federal government

NSW Minister for Recovery and Member for Lismore, Janelle Saffin, told the Mid North Coaster the NSW Government had submitted an application to the Commonwealth Government for Category D funding. 

“This is not something that NSW can afford by ourselves. This time we need the deeper pockets of the Commonwealth Government,” Saffin said.

“We understand the community’s sense of urgency regarding this application, but we wanted to do our best to make sure that the application is successful.

“A Category D submission is very detailed. This is why we announced category C within weeks of the natural disaster, so that primary producers and small businesses got some initial support.”

Saffin said with damaging severe weather events becoming more frequent, Category D funding requires a deeper analysis of the economic impacts, and that NSW Government’s assessors have been on the ground working with primary producers to gather relevant information.

“These events are now happening more frequently and the devastation is larger. Over the last four and a half years, the New South Wales Government has committed $6 billion to disaster relief in New South Wales.”

The increasing cost of disasters

Following ex‑Tropical Cyclone Alfred in March, the federal government’s 2025/26 budget report expects total costs for national disaster support will continue to rise to at least $13.5 billion. 

The government provisioned $1.2 billion in the Contingency Reserve to better respond to – and recover from – future disasters.

Severe weather becoming more frequent and intense

Councillor with the Climate Council and Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne, Professor David Karoly, told the Mid North Coaster extreme rainfall events have become more frequent and intense in Australia due to the rising of global temperatures caused by pollution from coal, oil and gas.

Karoly said the rise of ocean and atmospheric temperatures is leading to more moisture in the atmosphere causing an increase in extreme downpours.

“We've seen record-high atmospheric temperatures in the spring and summer in Australia, which are also the result of rising climate pollution, not just in Australia, but globally.”

Karoly said increasing temperatures are down to human-induced climate change, due to the burning of fossil fuels, which led to the high concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere: 

The increasing frequency and severity of extreme events means communities are facing successive disasters with little time in between to recover, while national disaster support is costing government billions with the costs continuing to rise. The frequency of intense rainfall events is expected to almost double with each degree of global heating.

➡ ️ An online petition is available on the Parliament of New South Wales website for those impacted by the recent flood to provide further information to the government on the need for further financial support. 

Thumbnail: Rally at Kempsey Racecourse.