In this Insight column originally published in The Land, Robbie Sefton reflects on global interest in Australia’s latest drought and argues that while the world watches our farmers for their innovation and resilience, it’s time for local policy responses to catch up. She calls for smarter, more strategic support and recovery systems - because drought will come again, and we need to be ready.
26 June 2025
Insight from: Robbie Sefton
Australia has long been referred to as ‘a land of extremes’ and examples of this are currently playing out across different parts of this vast nation. As devastating floods hit an already sodden northern NSW in late May, southern NSW was in the grips of dry, and in many regions, drought conditions, which have been ongoing for some time. Some areas in the past month have enjoyed some rain relief, but not nearly enough to date.
It is always interesting to observe the media coverage of this latest drought and what has surprised me is interest from beyond our shores. One of my colleagues spoke to a journalist from a leading overseas financial publication recently about a story on the drought, to include reaction from different perspectives across the ag, and rural and regional, sector. This prompted me to ask, ‘what’s piqued their interest in an Australian drought?’.
The answer is multi-layered. While we can think we’re one of the smaller players on the global economic stage, the truth is impacts on our export industries do have a flow-on effect and other nations are invested in the causes and the outcomes of our agricultural commodities. What is also true is that our often ‘extreme’ environment is of interest to the overseas scientific community as it tackles the likes of climate change, its effects and what that looks like for communities everywhere into the future.
The likes of our agriculture industry is also at the cutting edge of innovations, technology and farming practices to benefit the sector and help our producers continue to find productivity and sustainability gains in the face of natural disasters and other climate challenges. We have always known our farmers are the most resilient, and continue to add to the value of our agriculture sector, and this is of interest to the rest of the world as they, too, grapple with changing environments.
We are proud of our industry, and what we do, and while farming can be incredibly tough, and even heartbreaking, at times, we should also be proud of the fact we get on with it, and refuse to be seen as ‘victims’ of our climate and the other challenges we endure. This is the face we must show to the world, demonstrating what’s possible for agriculture now, and well into the future.
While resilience is a valuable quality though, this most recent drought event – which is also impacting other states of southern Australia – should also further prompt us to think about how we think and respond in times like this. What measures and strategies we can put in place that not only help affected stakeholders during the crisis, but assist them, and their communities, to recover more quickly and be more prepared for the inevitable ‘next time’. How we do this has long been debated by policy-makers and stakeholders, but it always seems that with every subsequent drought, we sometimes don’t appear to have advanced very far from the time before.
It’s probably fair to say the only certainty around natural disasters like drought is that they will happen again – and probably more often into the future. Our farming practices are evolving to keep pace with this inevitable change – it’s time for our policy and decision makers to ensure our response, support and recovery protocols did the same.
