Victorian Flood Updates

Tuesday October 25th, 12pm

Good afternoon,

The Department of Agriculture is working closely with the SES and essential services with the focus on urgent animal welfare, collecting assessment and the personal wellbeing of people and their communities.

Top level issues affecting our sector were tabled:

Infrastructure: Damage to property and machinery, safety using machinery
Trade: Cancellations of bookings, closing of cellar doors, tourism messaging
Crop: Growers are unable to spray their crop or get chemicals in, disease, vine rot.
Logistics: Road closures means staff and customers cannot get to wineries

Financial Support packages are now available for 3 key areas:

$10k for clean up and relief activities
Transport subsidy up to $15k for 50% of transport costs for livestock
Concessional loans

https://www.ruralfinance.com.au/

Hotline number with questions on support is 1800 260 425

Further information will be provided on the following:

Food Safety
Information on vaccinations due to influx of mosquitoes
Work Safe: Education around use of machinery under these conditions
Vic Roads: State of local roads, support to reopen priority roads and bridges for access, more up to date information on access on Vic Roads

Please reach out via email to secretariat@winevictoria.littlebig.staged.yourtemporary.com if you have any specific concerns that we can table.

Thank you,

Natalie O’Brien AM
CEO
E: natalie.obrien@winevictoria.littlebig.staged.yourtemporary.com

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Wednesday October 19th 8pm

Support for Victorian Primary Producers Impacted by Flooding

The Victorian Government has announced support for primary producers and businesses across Victoria affected by the devastating floods.

A $73.5 million package will deliver grants to help farmers and business owners clean up their properties, while business mentoring, concessional loans and transport subsidies will help businesses get back on their feet.

Support for primary producers

The $19.5 million Primary Producer Flood Relief Program will deliver a one-off $10,000 payment – administered by Rural Finance – to primary producers directly affected by the floods to help them clean up, re-establish their properties, and get their businesses up and running again.

The grants will cover activities like the removal and disposal of debris and injured or dead livestock, repairing essential equipment, fixing and replacing fencing, buying fodder, water and water storage, salvaging damaged crops, grain or feed, and hiring or purchasing materials to clean up a property or equipment.

Primary producers whose properties have been directly hit are also eligible for concessional loans of up to $250,000 to restore or replace damaged assets, and meet general expenses incurred while the clean-up is underway.

Flood-affected primary producers can also claim up to 50 per cent of transport costs – up to $15,000 – for the transport of emergency fodder or stock drinking water, and moving stock to agistment, sale or slaughter.

Applications will open on Thursday, 20 October.

For more information, visit www.ruralfinance.com.au

Support for businesses

Business owners will be supported through the $54 million Business Flood Relief Program.

Directly impacted businesses will be eligible for a one-off payment of $5,000 to support clean-up, safety inspections, repairs, the hiring of equipment and purchase of stock that businesses need to get back in business as quickly as possible.

The program will also support a dedicated Business Relief Service – with dedicated mentors to guide business owners through the available Commonwealth, state and local supports, manage insurance and landlord issues and build a strong recovery strategy.

Applications will open on Thursday, 20 October.

For more information, visit Business Victoria or call the Business Victoria hotline on 132 215.

Support for mental health

In addition, the Victorian Government has announced a $4.4 million initial package that will support any extra mental healthcare flood-affected Victorians need.

This includes $500,000 for specialist agriculture organisations, including the National Centre for Farmer Health, to provide dedicated mental health support to primary producers whose properties, livestock or crops were lost in the floods.

Further information on this support is available in the Premier’s statement.

Tuesday October 18th, 8pm

Good evening,

Today Wine Victoria met with Agriculture Victoria and other sectors to discuss the impact of the recent floods on our state.

Please find a few points below that were highlighted across all sectors in this meeting today for your reference:

Crop losses
Increased disease risk
Infrastructure damage
Power & communication outages
Access to properties (Logistics in & out of affected areas)
Staff shortages
Visits and sales cancellations
Equipment & assistance to conduct soil and water testing after flood waters have receded

We will receive additional communications from Agriculture Victoria shortly with more information on how we can connect those impacted with relevant government support agencies, emergency contact numbers, and website details where required.

In the meantime, we have included a website link below to monitor flood affected areas, please check this link when you can as updates may change. This link is also available as an app on your mobile device and has been linked below.

For emergency response to floodwaters, please call the number below.

Victoria State Emergency: 132 500

We are seeking to understand the impact of recent flooding events on the wine sector, so we can ensure that the information is promptly communicated to the Department of Agriculture so we can assist where possible. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or have been impacted by the floods. You may contact us via email secretariat@winevictoria.littlebig.staged.yourtemporary.com or through phone (03) 9061 9106.

Please keep safe, and our thoughts are with those people, communities and businesses that have been affected.

Kindest,

Natalie O’Brien AM
CEO I Wine Victoria

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Monday October 17th, 5pm

Good afternoon all,

There is a meeting of the Agriculture IRG being convened tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10am, which will provide an update on status of flood support and ag specific assistance.

We’re seeking to understand the impact of these weather events on the wine sector, so we can ensure that the information is promptly communicated to the Department of Agriculture so we can assist all we can.

If your region has been impacted, at a time convenient to you, it would be great if you could reach out to me either via email or phone.

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out also. Our thoughts are with the affected people, communities and businesses.

Thanks Natalie

Natalie O’Brien AM
CEO I Wine Victoria
secretariat@winevictoria.org.au