MOIRA Shire has produced data revealing the federal government-imposed threshold of people working in agriculture comfortably exceeds the required 17 per cent to secure drought assistance.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Latest census data on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website taken in 2016 shows Moira residents working in agriculture to be 16.2 per cent of the total workforce of 10,534.
But 4.8 per cent of those working in Moira haven't clearly stated their occupation and by proportionally spreading them across all workforce categories, the percentage working in agriculture jumps above the required 17 per cent to 17.5 per cent.
IN OTHER NEWS
Being situated on the border also skews the figures favourably towards Moira.
The ABS data shows non-residents working in agriculture to be 18.6 per cent of total local jobs and by proportionally adding the not clearly stated occupation number the percentage climbs to 19.5 per cent.
Moira Shire chief executive Mark Henderson has confirmed member for Nicholls Damien Drum has been approached to advocate on the shire's behalf to federal government decision-makers in the wake of its near miss revelation this week.
Mr Drum's National Party colleague Bridget McKenzie is the federal agriculture minister.
"We believe the information presented to Senate Estimates to be at odds with Moira employment data on the ABS website and seriously under values the agricultural jobs in the shire," Mr Henderson said.
"From our farming communities perspective 0.1 per cent is rubbish.
"They all know Moira's economy is driven by agriculture.
"We haven't given much thought to how the funds might be applied as this is not about Moira getting $1 million."
Further compounding Moira's anguish is government documents revealing there is "no formal definition of drought" and councils falling under the threshold remain under consideration for government assistance.
It has also had a drop in the those working in the dairy sector due to drought.
Also, Moira's 13.7 per cent of jobs in manufacturing are largely processing of local agriculture produce which are all affected by drought.