“This is how dry it is at our place,” Denyer said in his post.
“My wife just took this photo of our backyard and paddocks.
“We’re lucky we don’t rely on the farm for income but so many in regional Australia do.
It’s so sad right now.
May was an exceptionally dry month across the country.
To help alleviate financial pressures, National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Thorburn announced the bank will stop charging farmers penalty interest if they fall behind on their repayments due to drought, admitting it had lost touch with some of its customers.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has urged others to follow suit, encouraging farmers to “vote with their wallets” and tell banks who refuse to “bugger off”.
I hope other Aussie banks follow NAB’s lead and get on board,” Mr Littleproud said in a statement today.
He also had a dig at foreign-owned Rabo bank for “turning up its nose” at Aussie farmers, ruling out an FMD offset product last week.
“You have to ask how serious that bank is about agriculture in Australia,” Mr Litteproud said “If you’re a farmer whose bank doesn’t offer an FMD offset, you can tell them to bugger off because there are banks now which do.” NAB removing penalty interest for farmers was an opportunity for the banking sector to reassess penalty interest as a whole, Mr Litteproud added.