Consistent eligibility criteria for drought support at a state and federal level is set to take hold.
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A group of state and federal agriculture ministers decided it was time to streamline drought assistance during a meeting in bone dry Moree last week.
Their plan is make it easier for farmers to apply for help from the state and federal government and that will happen by February.
A working group, chaired by Federal Drought Co-ordinator Shane Stone, will be formed to identify ways to improve the integration between the support available at a federal and state/territory level.
Offering consistent eligibility criteria is one of the main changes that is expected to make applying for help a lot easier.
Read more: The Big Dry
The commitment came after NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall called a special AgMin meeting in the northern NSW town so they could see firsthand the extent of the drought.
"This is the worst drought on record and it's become a truly national crisis. It's therefore essential governments across the country work hand in hand to deliver the best assistance in the most streamlined fashion," Mr Marshall said.
"Urgent action is required to integrate the many and varied assistance measures at a State and Commonwealth level and NSW [has] secured an agreement to make this happen by February.
"The sheer number of programs, different criteria and hoops to jump through is unnecessarily confusing and time consuming for farmers and businesses - we can and must make this easier."
The ministers haven't come forward with any new forms of assistance.
It comes as 99.9 per cent of NSW remains in drought and 67.4 per cent of Queensland has been drought declared.