Farmer fury at aid for WA going east

WA farmers have declared war on Canberra after Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce gave millions of dollars from the State's debt crisis package to Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

Local farming groups and the State Government were not consulted about the move, which came after a seven-month delay in rolling out concessional loans to battling WA farmers.

Mr Joyce made a snap decision to cut the WA funding by $10 million to $50 million over two years, despite not visiting the State as the minister.

His home state of Queensland was the big winner with its $60 million package bumped up to $80 million and NSW - which includes his electorate - and Victoria will get $70 million.

Muntadgin Farming Alliance co-ordinators Scott Stirrat and Jeff Hooper, who met Mr Joyce in July to spell out the debt crisis hundreds of WA farmers faced, said they were shocked.

WAFarmers president Dale Park said Canberra regularly ignored the plight of WA farmers while rushing to aid those in the Eastern States.

Mr Joyce said the loans were reallocated to ensure they were available to farmers in the "greatest need".

Mr Park said many farmers east and north of Merredin were "doing it as tough as anyone" and WA sheep and cattle producers were hit harder than most by live export restrictions.

Despite a bumper harvest in many Wheatbelt districts, yields would be well below average across about one million hectares in WA which missed out on rain.

Mr Stirrat said squabbling between the State and Commonwealth over administering the loans had denied farmers capital they could have used to make the most of a good season. WA Agriculture Minister Ken Baston, who wrote to Mr Joyce more than a month ago about rolling out the loans, said the decision meant 50 WA farmers would miss out on low-cost loans of $200,000.

He said the minister needed to consider conditions that had pushed some WA farmers to the brink.

The other big losers were South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.