Welcome to BIEDO's drought mitigation portal.  To the left you will see a menu with links to our drought related programs, initiatives, resources and links.  Please feel free to browse the information on these pages and if you want to come back to this page, the links in the header above can be used.

Why are Drought Mitigation Programmes important?

"Recently a man sent 300 head to the abbatoir.  They were so poor the abbatoir sent them back.  He had no feed and no water, so he shot all 300 head and then he shot himself."

"In 2004, ABS reported suicides on the coast - but none in our rural shires.  Yet we had 5 suicides in 1 week alone."

"It's not just the suicides - it's the debilitating effect on families, businesses and communities or prolonged depression - the apathy, the desperation and despair, the fear that freezes good decision making or results in violence or self-abuse. It's the hidden costs of people who stop taking care of themselves and their families and their enterprises - with a gradual, insidious decline, until something hits the wall, and it's crisis time - which costs us all much more - emotionally, physically, and financially."

"...the grind of all the extra work - pumping water, feeding stock, - with no time for family or anything.  Nothing but work and the gnawing fear and not being able to sleep.  And knowing that no matter how hard you work it makes no difference - you have to do it all again tomorrow and the day after that, and you're still going backward.  And there's just no end to it - no end at all."

"It's not just the primary producers - every small business out here relies on agriculture in some way - we are suppliers, contractors, retailers, transporters- the whole industry chain is inter-linked.  Everyone is affected."

"We are definitely seeing families that would never normally seek aid - even really big properties are in trouble now.  The number of clients we are seeing each day has increased dramatically in the last 12 months.  It is getting worse not better.  The best gauge is the workload.  The client numbers are building, not dropping off.  It's gotten noticeably worse.  There hasn't been a seasonal dip [as in other years].  We're at crisis point with no where to go from here".