Rabobank announces support for farming clients affected by Queensland floods
Rabobank
Rabobank has announced a package of support measures that will be made available to farming clients dealing with the impacts of devastating floods in outback Queensland.
Rabobank group executive Country Banking Marcel van Doremaele said the specialist agribusiness bank stood ready to assist clients who are contending with an unprecedented scale of flood water across the region.
He said this support would be extended to other regions, as needed, with flooding also expected to further impact southern Queensland and northern NSW.
Mr van Doremaele said the torrential rainfall – which had begun last week with a slow-moving monsoonal system which had been followed up by ex-Tropical Cyclone Dianne – had generated massive flooding in western Queensland, with agricultural producers facing widespread livestock losses and damage to farm infrastructure, fencing and pasture.
“Livestock losses are still largely unaccounted for,” Mr van Doremaele said. “The slow- moving nature of the water is causing ongoing delays to producers and support personnel being able to access paddocks and assess stock and their condition.”
Mr van Doremaele said many producers across the region had experienced significant water through homes and farm buildings, had non-fixed assets taken by the flood waters and sustained huge fencing losses and damage. “In recent years, western Queensland has seen many producers invest in exclusion fencing,” he said. “Many of these fences are now underwater, damaged and some have disappeared altogether. With fencing and material expenses having almost doubled in recent years, the cost of replacing these will be playing on producers’ minds.”
Mr van Doremaele said while the full impacts on agricultural operations and production in the region wouldn’t be known until flood waters fully subside – which may not be for weeks or even months in many cases – Rabobank’s staff had been making contact with clients to determine how the bank could provide support.
He said the bank would work directly with individual clients whose farms or agribusinesses have been affected to provide support and offer a range of assistance measures in applicable circumstances.
These included:
- ‘carry on’ finance to keep viable operations running,
- waiver of break costs on early redemption of Farm Management Deposits to allow access to needed funds,
- deferral of scheduled loan payments and
- waiver of fees on loan increases necessary for rebuilding operations.
Mr van Doremaele said while the bank’s rural managers were reaching out to clients in affected regions, he encouraged impacted clients to contact Rabobank where assistance was needed by contacting their local branch or phoning the bank on 1800 025 484.
<ends>
Media contacts:
Denise Shaw Will Banks
Media Relations Media Relations
Rabobank Australia & New Zealand Rabobank Australia
Phone: 02 8115 2744 or 0439 603 525 Phone: 0418 216 103
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]
About us:
Rabobank Australia & New Zealand Group is a part of the international Rabobank Group, the world’s leading specialist in food and agribusiness banking. Rabobank has more than 125 years’ experience providing customised banking and finance solutions to businesses involved in all aspects of food and agribusiness. Rabobank is structured as a cooperative and operates in 38 countries, servicing the needs of more than nine million clients worldwide through a network of more than 1000 offices and branches. Rabobank Australia & New Zealand Group is one of Australasia’s leading agricultural lenders and a significant provider of business and corporate banking and financial services to the region’s food and agribusiness sector. The bank has 90 branches throughout Australia and New Zealand.