A woman broke down in tears while speaking at the Rural Debt and Drought Taskforce in Ayr.
ABC News
Graziers struggling with debt in drought-declared North
Queensland have lashed out and broken down in front of visiting
politicians and economists.
The Rural Debt and Drought Taskforce
met about 40 farmers in Ayr on Thursday to discuss what some called
"criminal" and "disgraceful" behaviour by banks.
"You will starve —
the whole country will starve" if governments do not "pull their heads
in" and bail out the industry, one man warned.
Another said he was
forced to eat sandwiches every day because he could not afford anything
else and was offended by the catered spread at the meeting.
The
gathering heard some lenders were devaluing properties across the region
by up to 30 per cent, forcing graziers to pay higher interest rates
because the loans were now considered higher risk.
Taskforce
chairman and Mount Isa MP Rob Katter again argued the Queensland
Government should set up its own bank to takeover loans from private
lenders.
"These things are effective instruments. They keep industries going," he said.
Mr Katter said the risk would be low for taxpayers.
"There's
no alternate use on these grazing properties out in the west and you've
got some people who don't pay themselves wages but they're willing to
stay out there paying taxes," he said.
"They just need a leg up after a few bad years."
'Kids know what's going on'
The
ABC met one farming family struggling with drought in debt after eight
years on their property near Ravenswood, east of Charter Towers.
ABC News"It [the drought and debt] affects everyone," mother of three Jess Rich said.
"The
kids go out into the paddock and tell us about the day's duties and
what they've seen and some days what they say is quite hard to take."
The Rich family supports calls for government support.
"Farmers
aren't silly people. The money that they make is invested back into
property and family. It's not spent on lavish holidays or anything like
that," grazier Jono Rich said.
The taskforce will continue its tour of regional Queensland and report back to the State Treasurer in about two months.
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