Rural financial counsellors tell dairy farmers Federal Government loan scheme is 'too hard' to access

Rural financial counsellors, commissioned by the Federal Government to assist dairy farmers in applying for concessional loans, are reportedly advising clients not to bother with applications. By Danielle Grindlay
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Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce announced the $555 million scheme, which offers Murray Goulburn and Fonterra suppliers loans with a relatively low variable interest rate of 2.66 per cent, during the election campaign.
Three months on, the Federal Government says it has received just 49 applications and only one has been approved, blaming state governments for slow processing times.
The South Australian Government confirmed it had only received two applications.
Meanwhile the Victorian Government said Commonwealth figures were out of date, pointing to six of its farmers successful applications.
Victorian dairy farmer Stephen Spokes decided not to send his application in.
«[My rural financial counsellor] told me not to bother because I wouldn’t be eligible to get it,» he said.
«He couldn’t say why.»
Adam Jenkins, the president of lobby group United Dairy Farmers of Victoria, said it was not a unique story.
«We’re hearing that some of the financial counsellors have said it might be a bit too hard or inappropriate for [farmers] to apply,» Mr Jenkins said.
Rural financial counsellors have been commissioned by the Commonwealth to assist farmers in their applications for dairy support packages, but have no authority to assess eligibility.
Lobby group Farmer Power said counsellors had privately expressed concern that the loan scheme was flawed and too difficult for farmers to access.
Vice president Alex Robertson said counsellors would not speak publicly about their concerns because, even though they are independent service providers, their funding comes from the government.
«One thing you learn, when you work for the government you don’t bite the hand that feeds you,» he said.
Mr Robertson said counsellors’ concerns highlighted that the loan scheme, which was the centrepiece of the Federal Government’s dairy assistance package, was ineffective in assisting farmers.
«It’s designed to fail,» he said.
«There are plenty of financial counsellors that will tell you the same thing – it’s set up so that farmers will get frustrated and give up and go away.»
Victorian federal Liberal MP Sarah Henderson has also spoken out against her government’s loan scheme.
She wants authorities to revisit the eligibility criteria for low-interest dairy loans, which she said was too too hard for farmers to access.
Counsellors undertake ‘communication program’ to clarify criteria
Rural Finance, the organisation that oversees counsellors in Victoria, declined to be interviewed about concerns from lobby groups and individual farmers.
In a statement, a spokesman acknowledged there had been misunderstandings around loan criteria.
«Rural Finance has become aware that some farmers were advised by a rural financial counsellor that because there [sic] position was reasonably strong, in his view, they should not bother applying for a loan as they would not be eligible for support due to the ‘needs assessment’ – this information was incorrect,» the statement read.
«We have since advised the farmer(s) whom we know were given this information that this is not the case and they are eligible to apply.
«The information provided by the counselling service was done in good faith, but was a case of misunderstanding the eligibility criteria.
«This was an isolated incident as we understand it.»
Rural Finance did not respond to reports counsellors had described the application process as «too hard» and advised other farmers they were not viable enough to apply for a loan.
However a spokesman said counsellors had undertaken a «communication program», to clarify program criteria.
‘Do not write loan scheme off’: UDV
United Dairy Farmers of Victoria does not want farmers to give up on the low-interest loan scheme.
Mr Jenkins said state and federal governments were open to discussions about any issues farmers had with the application process and wanted to smooth out the cracks.
He has complained to Rural Finance about some individual counsellors telling farmers not to bother submitting an application.
«That’s not for them to assess – we want to make sure rural financial counsellors are getting on the ground, understanding the situation and feeding that information back to us.
«We want people to actually put the application in and see where it goes.»
Mr Jenkins said the scheme would not help every dairy farmer in crisis, but would be of great benefit to successful applicants.
«Some farmers have actually said the system is quite useful, as long as you’ve got all of your information back from your accountant in the in one place,» he said.
«Some are saying it’s too hard and don’t apply – we’re saying, no we want to hear from you about that situation so we can get that worked through.»
No issue with criteria: Barnaby Joyce
A spokeswoman for Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said the issue had been raised with Rural Financial Counselling Services Wimmera South West.
«When approached by the Department today, RFCS SW Victoria did not indicate farmers were being deterred from speaking with a counsellor or applying for assistance,» the spokeswoman said in a statement.
«They advise their RFCS counsellors to encourage farmers not to self-assess and to meet with a counsellor to discuss assistance on offer.»
Mr Joyce’s office rejected concerns about eligibility criteria.
«The concern for Victorian dairy and drought affected farmers is not the loans criteria so much as the loan application processing speed by Rural Finance,» the spokeswoman said.
«What takes on average 25 or 26 business days in Queensland and NSW, takes on average 47 business days in Victoria.
«The loans criteria has not stopped 900 farmers getting access to $475 million in concessional loans over the past three years under this Government.»
 
Source: ABC
Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-17/dairy-loan-scheme-federal-government-financial-counselling/7753294
 

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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