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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Gabrielle Chan

Drought funding should focus on programs with ‘lasting public benefit’, review finds

Drought Jim Chalmers FDF Productivity Commission Climate Change
Landscape with deeply cracked red soil & trees on horizon under blue sky in outback Australia during devastating drought
The report on the Future Drought Fund was critical of the fund’s aim that implies all resilience activity is good activity. Photograph: Outback Australia/Alamy

The Productivity Commission has recommended a major overhaul of the Coalition’s $5bn Future Drought Fund to focus on programs that have a “lasting public benefit” even if that means fewer funding announcements.

The fund, established at the height of the 2019 drought, was designed to provide $100m in annual funding to build regional resilience and prepare farmers for drought. So far, it has spent $65m in 2020-21, $72m in 2021-22 and $92m in 2022-23.

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