Updated August 05, 2018 00:31:35

Photo: The $190 million package of immediate relief measures include additional support for mental health services. (Supplied: Zara King)

The Turnbull Government has signed off on emergency "special" payments for eligible farmers who are under intense financial strain due to the relentless drought conditions.

The payments will be made through the Farm Household Allowance (FHA) scheme and will be announced today by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on a farm near the New South Wales town of Trangie.

Currently, those on the FHA scheme can access a payment equivalent to the unemployment benefit, worth around $16,000 a year.

Today's announcement will provide households up to $12,000 in additional lump-sum payments for couples. Single households will get $7,200.

Full coverage of the crippling dry conditions affecting large swathes of eastern Australia in what some are calling the worst drought in living memory.

The first payment will be made on the first day of next month. The second payment would be made on March 1, next year.

In recent years federal policy has been focused on "drought proofing" and preparedness for dry periods.

Federal assistance, apart from the basic unemployment payment, has been offered on the basis of loans rather than subsidies or cash payments.

But the government's statement on the new changes says the current dry period is "one of the worst droughts of the past century".

Some farmers say their own rainfall records show this dry spell is unprecedented.

Many farmers and communities are facing ruin and they tell the ABC's regional reporters across Australia that it's time their city cousins acknowledged the catastrophe.

The Government says the money can be used for basic household expense, and will flow through to regional communities.

The Commonwealth has already extended the time period to receive the FHA from three to four years.

After consulting with farming groups, the eligibility criteria for accessing the FHA will also be relaxed so people with up to $5 million net assets will still be able to apply. Previously the cut off was $2.6 million.

"This will help farmers, who may be notionally asset rich but cash poor, access additional support without having to jeopardise the income-producing capacity of their farm by selling farm equipment," the statement said.

The FHA has been criticised by some farmers who found the process to apply arduous and opaque.

Part of this announcement is an extra $5 million dollars for Rural Financial Counsellors, who provide free services to help people apply for the FHA.

The Federal Government revealed last weekend that advice from the Agriculture Department showed only a third of eligible farming households were receiving the payment.

On Monday the NSW Government announced the reintroduction of freight subsidies for animal feed and water to alleviate some of the pressing financial concerns.

The latest federal announcement brings its own spend on drought measures to $576 million.

Today's package will also include extra funding for mental health support, and is costing $190 million in total.

The Commonwealth has flagged a further drought announcement "in coming weeks".

"We will stand with Australia's farming families every step of the way as they cope with this devastating drought: listening, caring, responding and delivering," the statement said.

"We can't make it rain. But we can ensure that farming families and their communities get all the support they need to get through the drought, recover and get back on their feet."

Topics: drought, disasters-and-accidents, rural, federal-government, australia

First posted August 05, 2018 00:01:31