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One of Queensland's newly appointed drought commissioners says the "critical" situation facing farmers is the worst that he has seen in his 71 years.
Vaughan Johnson and Mark O'Brien were on Monday recruited to advise the state government about how best to spend its $9 million drought relief package, which was fast-tracked this week.
Pictured on his drought-stricken property in Pilton, near Toowoomba in Queensland, dairy farmer Brendan Hayden has been forced to buy feed for his cattle, the price of which is climbing.
Photo: Peter RickardsMr Johnson, a former LNP politician who lives in Longreach, said the funding boost could not have come at a better time as the ongoing lack of rain was making it hard for rural communities to stay afloat.
"I have never seen such a depressed economy, such depressed people as we are witnessing now," he told ABC radio on Tuesday.
"It's worse than critical.