CALLS to the drought assistance hotline have jumped 40 per cent in the two weeks since the Howard Government’s latest increase in support.

One of Centrelink’s three drought buses recently attended a field day at Paskeville in South Australia, where it handled a record 430 inquiries over three days.

Kate Hay, manager of Centrelink’s Murray-Darling Basin co- ordination unit based at Griffith in the NSW Riverina, said there had been a big increase in inquiries.

“People have contacted our hotlines and our drought bus and our customer service officers,” Ms Hay said.

“If we can help them with their household income support, at least they know they can put food on (the) table, and then they can look at the other aspects of trying to run their business.”

The increase in allowable off-farm income and assets meant more farmers were eligible.

“The change to the off-farm income, that is the biggest one because a lot of wives have gone into town to do some work. Or their situation has changed. They might have claimed 12 months ago and weren’t eligible, but unfortunately they are carrying more debt now and what small savings they had have all gone.”

Mr Howard also announced the exit, or leaving the farm, package would be doubled to $150,000 and the assets limit raised to $350,000.

Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said applications for the increased exit package were being finalised and were expected to be available later this week.

Farmers could register their interest in an exit grant at Centrelink; about 200 farmers had done so, Mr McGauran said.

Ms Hay said there had been a large increase in the number of people seeking information about the exit package.

“We are also booking appointments with our rural service officers so people can sit down and talk about the situation and what it really means for them,” Ms Hay said.

“We also like people to have a chat to our social workers to make sure that the whole family is engaged in that decision. It is an emotional decision as well so we don’t want people to rush into it.”

For farmers, it must seem the only thing growing in the bush these days is the paper work.

Dairy farmer Fiona Walker has three sons under five and does the book-work for her family’s dairy farm near the Riverina town of Deniliquin.

Any thought of returning to work after the birth of her youngest child has been banished by the volume of paperwork required to keep their farm going.

“The book-work has doubled since the drought and the stress of it all is unbelievable,” Ms Wakler said.

She said her family had been receiving exceptional circumstance payments for two years, which they relied on to buy groceries.

“We pay a hell of a lot of tax in the good years; so I don’t have any problem seeking assistance,” she said. “But the older generation especially find it humiliating. They come to it reluctantly, it’s not talked about.”

Paula Rutter at the Rural Financial Counselling Service in Deniliquin fills out many of the forms for locals.

“There would be a hell of a lot of farmers out there who would not apply if we weren’t there to help them,” Ms Rutter said. “All theassistance that is out there is fabulous; but it does require a lot of paperwork.”

Ms Rutter said many farmers were reluctant. “Having to contact us, much less fill out forms, has a huge impact on the farmer’s sense of self-reliance and self-belief,” she said.

Over the past six weeks, she had seen new people “who have been self-reliant over the past five years and no longer have theresources to keep on going”.