On November 20, 2013, a $7.6 million NSW state drought relief package was announced for struggling farmers in the dire conditions hitting Bourke, Brewarrina and Walgett shires. The application deadline for subsidies is June 30.

Wednesday saw recognition of a wider catchment of drought hit producers. 

It came in the form of that original package expanded to include an additional 20 shires and the western unincorporated area with the same deadline and about the same amount of money.

The statement spruiked there was now $14.6 million on the table, forgetting to add the other $7.6 was already earmarked nearly three months ago.

Considering stocking rates, land fertility, population and seasonal expectations in the Northern Tablelands and New England alone, one might feel that $7 million isn’t really enough, especially if conditions continue to deteriorate.

There was a sting in the tail of the  modest drought package announced by Katrina Hodgkinson this week.

On the Pulse refers to the omission of the 20 or so words that might have been included in the Minister’s media release detailing the terms of the package.

They failed to inform eager and desperate farmers that they would only receive 50 per cent of their costs with new eligible projects requiring them to come up with the other half. 

One spokesperson from the NSW Department of Primary Industries said “there was only so much they could include in a media release”. 

Surely, in times like these, clarity above all, should be the order of the day.

Now the Prime Minister has plans to visit drought hit areas over the weekend, though the details of his itinerary are not yet available.

Perhaps Mr Abbott will ante up some more to the kitty once he shakes hands with some regional people who are living the nightmare of drought, and visits the communities who rely upon money off the land to stay afloat.