At St George, he warned the assembly that its challenge wasn’t convincing him of the need for aid and reform: it is convincing at least 10 members of the 19-member Cabinet.
And, he told Fairfax, “Treasury says we’ve been left in a position where our debt could head to $660 billion. That means we’re going broke. We have to try and bargain within that predicament.”
Several who spoke at St George noted that going broke wasn’t a merely peril for many producers, but a real and bitter reality.
Condamine farmer, former Katter Party candidate and meeting organiser Rowell Walton said one large Queensland accounting firm with a lot of producers on its books estimates that about a third are in default to their banks.
With cattle prices well below the cost of production, and many cattle kept on farms in the hope of rain now too weak to get on a truck, stories abound of landholders selling personal possessions to put food on the table, or people unable to fuel their vehicles.
Mental health at risk
Lifeline Darling Down’s chief executive, Derek Tuffield, related the story of a farmer he met hitchhiking on the Warrego Highway in late 2013.
Flat broke, the farmer had sent his wife to family in NSW by bus. He had gone to his bank, symbolically thrown the keys to his house over the counter, and was now hitching south, hoping to pick up work on the way.
Behind these stories lies the spectre of suicide. There are reports of suicides, but nothing to clarify whether the rate of self-harm is currently higher than usual in a sector where strong personal pride frequently runs aground on hardship.
The question remains as to how much pent-up emotion will sway the rationalists in Canberra.
By Monday, Mr Joyce was no clearer – at least publicly – on how he would approach negotiations over drought relief.
And he issued his own call for help, to balance the odds in Cabinet.
“Venues like this (at St George) are extremely important, but it’s also important for people to understand that the noise can’t stop at St George,” he said.
Joyce faces drought reality
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