7 February 2005
Cabinet extends Bay of Plenty flood assistance
Cabinet has approved the extension of assistance to farmers hit by floods in the Bay of Plenty in July last year,
Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton said today.
The Bay of Plenty had further flooding in December, and the Government has agreed to enable farms affected by both July
and December floods to claim assistance under the Agricultural Recovery Package for the extra damage caused in the
December floods as well.
This means the deadlines for submissions is extended to 1 August this year.
Farms can receive a grant of 75 per cent to restore uninsurable damaged property above a threshold of $5,000 or 10 per
cent of restoration costs (which ever is greater).
The extension also means that Enhanced Taskforce Green assistance will be available till the end of March, extended from
the end of December last year.
Mr Sutton said ministers had accepted it was impossible to distinguish between damage caused by the two events, and that
much of the damage in the later events had been exacerbated by the July floods.
ENDS