![National Farmers Federation chief executive officer, Tony Mahar. File photo. National Farmers Federation chief executive officer, Tony Mahar. File photo.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/32XghFRykTWK8psrWNhdBMC/8d026187-f48b-4830-859e-8678f34c54b7.jpg/r11_661_3702_3082_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The National Farmers Federation is seething after the federal government "walked away" from the farm sector's plea for a short timeline extension for instant asset write-offs at tax time.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
It fears the government's decision may be an indicator of a higher level of ignorance and lack of empathy when it comes to costly agricultural sector concerns.
The NFF has been lobbying for a grace period of an extra few months so farm machinery purchases and infrastructure construction projects impacted by supply delays could qualify for full expensing write-offs.
Many farm investments ordered, and largely paid for, up to a year ago were expected to be delivered before June 30.
Instead, they have been stalled by supply chain bottlenecks and component shortages, now making them ineligible for an instant depreciation write-off before full expensing options wrap up at the end of this financial year.
RELATED READING
NFF chief executive officer, Tony Mahar, said despite what seemed to be a positive engagement with the federal government, which included his organisation explaining how farmers were clearly not at fault, "the government has just walked away from the issue".
"It's a pretty deplorable performance on their behalf. It's very poor form. We are not happy," he said.
Mr Mahar said NFF was growing increasingly fearful the 12-month-old Labor government, despite showing good faith and a willingness to listen, was not too interested in recognising and dealing with agriculture sector realities and practicalities.
Other big issues on the radar, including the threat of live sheep export bans, biosecurity and environmental concerns, and chronic farm and agribusiness labour shortages had also received willing hearings from Agriculture Minister Senator Murray Watt, yet were not achieving realistic outcomes.
"Murray has been outstanding in his willingness to attend discussions and listen to our propositions, but we're feeling uneasy about a number of important issues at the forefront at the moment," Mr Mahar said.
"Our fear is that the rhetoric from our discussions is all we'll get from the government."
Tough luck
He said talks in Canberra on an asset write-off extension had effectively ended with the Treasurer and Finance Minister telling farmers "tough luck".
"We've been told supply chain conditions have improved, so there's no problem any more," Mr Mahar said.
"The government's ignorance on this issue is very disappointing.
"They clearly don't understand the logistics involved, especially when it comes to getting silos or sheds built on farm settings, or specialist machinery delivered from the other side of the world.
"This is a big deal. People made expensive business decisions in good faith."
According to feedback to NSW Farmers, thousands of big equipment orders will not arrive on farms before the end of June delivery or installation deadline.
From July 1 the federal government's tax effective investment incentives will be limited to purchases worth just $20,000 or less, not the $150,000 ticket price currently available to small medium sized businesses.
Senator Watt told farmer groups the economic outlook had evolved significantly since temporary full expensing was introduced during the economic uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, so there was no need for crisis levels of stimulus any more.
NSW Farmers president, Xavier Martin, said farm services contractors and tradespeople had also been caught by the supply chain delays and they, too, would be thousands of dollars out of pocket.
Start the day with all the big news in agriculture! Sign up below to receive our daily Farmonline newsletter.