February 5, 2019
Farmers have been urged to take advantage of the extra period for which they can seek compensation for incidents where they believe banks wronged them.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) would now allow aggrieved farmers to seek redress for incidents stretching back to January 1, 2008.
Normally the right to seek redress would end after six years.
The window to make such complaints and seek redress will be open for the next 12 months.
After that, the usual six-year expiry period will resume.
“I urge all farmers who’ve been wronged by banks since January 1, 2008, to contact the Australian Financial Complains Authority,” Minister Littleproud said.
“There’s nothing worse than the little guy being pushed around by the big end of town.
“This is a rare opportunity to seek some sort of justice for incidents which occurred between 2008 and 2012 – which banks probably thought they’d got away with, and farmers have 12 months to lodge those complaints.
“I know many farmers are exhausted from their interactions with banks but I hope those who’ve had wrong done to them find the energy to lodge a complaint with the AFCA and get some justice.”
The maximum compensation farmers are able to seek through AFCA is $2 million.
- More information is available on the AFCA website
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(Photo: AgForce)
AgForce CEO Michael Guerin – a former executive at Elders and ANZ – supports the underlying intent of Royal Commission recommendations which aim to ensure banks involved in rural lending demonstrate fairness, compassion, patience and knowledge of the industry.
He said these much-needed reforms were critical to ensure recovery from natural disasters, continued strong growth in the sector and to safeguard the livelihoods of farmers.
“We hope both the Government and Opposition will now demonstrate the leadership and strength of character to commit to their implementation,” Mr Guerin said.
“It is impossible to overstate the importance to the future of this sector of farmers being able to have confidence in our banking sector.”
Nationally, the agriculture industry has a target of increasing farmgate production to $100 billion annually by 2030, a significant 33 per cent increase on current levels.
“To achieve this stretch goal, we need to have a transparent, fair, consistent and collaborative relationship with the banking sector and the essential services it provides,” Mr Guerin said.
“Debt financing is critical to the Queensland agriculture industry. Without good access to fair debt finance, many farmers would not be able to finance investment in their property or maintain working capital.”
Nationally, 96 per cent of agricultural lending is with banks.
“In particular, we support the establishment of a national farm debt mediation scheme to ensure co-operative resolution of financial problems as they arise, with access for farmers to affordable professional support to negotiate the best outcome,” he said.
“We strongly support an end to the charging of default interest when there is no reasonable prospect of recovering the amount charged. This practice has been the source of much angst for farmers with failing loans.
“Increased transparency around asset valuation processes is also important to ensure the fair value of assets, including property and equipment, is realised if it has to be sold.”
