THE FEDERALLY-funded Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme is to be extended to cover shipments of drought-relief stockfeed to Bass Strait islands.
Charitable organisations shipping fodder from the mainland to King and Flinders islands will be able to claim assistance under the TFES for the cost of sea freight, with the expansion in place retrospectively from 1 May this year until June 2025. The change will be reassessed early next year to ensure its aims are being achieved.
The worst drought in 100 years has hit island farmers hard, especially on King Island where farmers have been forced to de-stock at a loss and rely in part on Tasmanian Government assistance packages.
Earlier this year Victorian Lions Clubs struggled to get shipments of hay to the island after Colac Otway Shire refused use of port facilities at Apollo Bay (DCN 1 May). The shipments eventually moved from Port Welshpool at additional cost due to the extra distance involved.
From late March until mid-May TasPorts’ Bass Island Line operated extra sailings between Devonport and Grassy to allow delivery of extra supplies and removal of unsustainable livestock (DCN 25 March).
Need for Feed chairman Graham Cockerell this week told Tasmanian media the cost of sea freight was a major challenge.
“As a charity which relies heavily on the goodwill of the Australian public and the many service clubs and other organisations which support our efforts, we of course welcome any government assistance to continue our work in providing relief to farming families in need, wherever that may be,” he said.
“Providing help to King Island farmers has presented many challenges, the major ones being around the cost of sea freight.”
The TFES is statutorily reviewed every four years, with the next due next year. The mayors of King Island and Flinders Island have been lobbying in Canberra for a “full contemporary review of the scope of TFES rebates and update of the calculation formulas, as well as universal application and reduced administration”.
