Minister to push for flood aid extension

The past winter has been so damaging to farms throughout the lower North Island that Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton will ask the Cabinet to extend the February floods aid package.

Wairarapa farmers, who were hit by bad flooding last month, have been told the Government is considering including them in the aid programme for farmers hit by the lower North Island floods in February.

The storm last month brought snow and rain to already saturated Wanganui, Rangitikei and Manawatu hill country.

Trees were brought down onto tracks and fences and slips that had been left hanging from February came down, some onto newly repaired fences, tracks and dams.

Lower North Island rural recovery co-ordinator Shelley Dew-Hopkins said many farmers were stretched financially and psychologically battered.

"It's been an awful winter," she told the Dominion Post.

"People are battling on but they are very down. A lot are saying they can't be bothered getting out on the farm."

Federated Farmers had asked Mr Sutton to extend the February aid package, which covered repair and replanting costs.

A spokeswoman for Mr Sutton said yesterday that he would join Civil Defence Minister George Hawkins and Social Development Minister Steve Maharey in putting a case to the Cabinet.

Ms Dew-Hopkins said the federation delegation had also asked for anomalies in the aid package to be reconsidered.

These were the bar on paying for internal fencing and for work done by farmers who did not wait for contractors, and the $10,000 threshold on all claims.

"Many are reluctant to carry extra loans to pay for work till their claims repayments come through, but the first of those are just going out to them now - that's not good enough."

She said Mr Sutton had been "quite sympathetic" to their requests.

She had also complained about the standard of rural power and telephone services.

"I told him ... privatisation ... has stuffed us. We're getting a very poor service and they're not investing in infrastructure."

- NZPA