Treasurer Joe Hockey has poured cold water over reports of a multibillion-dollar federal government rescue package for struggling Australian farmers, arguing there is no proposal before cabinet.
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The Treasurer said the government was ''well aware'' of what was happening on Australian farms but argued on Monday that the government had a new farming assistance package beginning in July this year, as well as existing state and federal support.
He told ABC Radio that farmers with debt problems should ''speak to the people that they owe the money to as a starting point''.
This followed a report that Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce had pledged he would wage a ''mighty battle'' in cabinet for a $7 billion bail-out package for ''distressed'' farm loans.
But Mr Hockey said he had spoken to his colleague and that the report was not accurate. Mr Joyce travelled to drought-stricken country areas, including St George and Coonamble, over the weekend on a 'listening tour'.
It is understood the Agriculture Minister is working up a proposal to put to cabinet on a broader assistance package to stricken farmers, but there is no dollar figure attached yet.
A spokesman for Mr Joyce said that he had spoken to Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Mr Hockey about the situation.
Mr Hockey's comments follow cabinet's decision late last week not to provide $25 million to fruit processor SPC Ardmona in Shepparton, where Labor leader Bill Shorten is visiting on Monday afternoon.
During his ABC interview, Mr Hockey declared that everyone in Australia ''must do the heavy lifting now''. If enterprise agreements fail - as in the case of SPC - the parties involved should not come to the government ''asking for other taxpayers' money'', he said.
''The age of entitlement is over. The age of personal responsibility has begun,'' he said.
Labor agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said Mr Joyce's position on drought was ''confused and chaotic''.
''As the drought grows worse, farming families are understandably frustrated by the mixed messages and tin ears in Canberra,'' he said in a statement.
Mr Fitzgibbon also said that given the federal government's ''callous disregard for jobs at Holden, SPC or Qantas, Australian farmers won't be holding their breath for support from this government''.
With AAP
