Portfolio — 19 March 2026

**Rural Financial Counselling Service funding boost**

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins, announced more than $2 million in additional funding for the Rural Financial Counselling Service, targeting farmers and producers in South Australia, northern New South Wales, and Victoria affected by drought, flooding, and bushfires [TA-260319-agricu-cad0455b9f50]. The funding is intended to deliver tailored financial decision-making support and lender negotiations for producers facing compounding pressures.

The Minister linked the need for this support to the impact the Middle East conflict has already had on Australian farmers and producers [TA-260319-agricu-cad0455b9f50].

**Structural shift to longer-term funding**

Alongside the immediate disaster top-up, the Government is opening a new $106 million funding round for the program with an extended five-year agreement timeframe, designed to give providers greater certainty and support rural jobs [TA-260319-agricu-cad0455b9f50]. The portfolio's approach centres on strengthening the financial resilience of the agriculture, fishing, and forestry sectors through long-term, community-based counselling services that have assisted over 6,150 producers this financial year [TA-260319-agricu-cad0455b9f50].

**Synthesis**

The announcement pairs immediate disaster-response funding with a structural shift to longer-term program certainty. The five-year agreement timeframe moves away from shorter funding cycles, giving rural counselling providers sustained capacity to retain staff and plan service delivery. The reference to Middle East conflict impacts on farmers signals the portfolio is framing global supply-chain disruption as a domestic financial-resilience issue requiring counselling intervention.

The combined package positions the Rural Financial Counselling Service as a permanent pillar of the Government's agricultural resilience architecture rather than a reactive emergency measure.