A PUSH for the deadline on flood recovery grant applications to be extended from Friday (March 3) to June 30 is being made by State Member for Scenic Rim Jon Krause.
The recovery funding through the grant program relates to the May 2022 floods.
“I asked the Minister for Agriculture to activate this support on the Monday after the floods in May 2022,” Mr Krause said.
“Labor forgot about Scenic Rim farmers after the floods we had in May last year, but I didn’t,” said Mr Krause.
“For nearly five months I worked to have grants up to $75,000 activated and in October 2022 the Government did it.”
The grant’s original deadline was extended to March 3, 2023 after the MP went into bat for farmers who were encountering significant delays in accessing contractors to carry out repair works.
But he said delays continued to hamper work.
“Farmers just can’t get contractors on the ground to do the work, and follow-up rain hasn’t helped either in some places,” he said.
“It’s through no fault of their own that they haven’t been able to lodge applications for support.
“The Queensland Government has highlighted on many occasions the same problem with keeping their own projects on time and on budget, [which is] a lack of workforce.
“If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander, and the Government must extend this timeframe again.”
He said June 30 would make a ‘sensible’ extension of time.
“I have asked the Minister for Agriculture to recognise the issues caused by the high demand for relevant businesses to carry out repair work and extend these deadlines for application for assistance by at least an additional three months in respect of both flood events.”
He said he was hopeful the deadline would be extended so that landholders who had applied or were in the process of applying would be able to access support.