Local non-farming businesses are encouraged to fill out a survey to explain how the drought has impacted them.
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Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDANI) is hoping to get more of an insight into how "drought assistance could be more effective from the frontline".
"The worst drought in modern record books isn't just hurting farmers, businesses in our regional towns are really doing it tough too. We are currently undertaking a survey to get the data to show just how much the big dry has impacted on the business sector, and what might be done to help," Narrabri-based chair of RDANI Russell Stewart said.
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RDANI senior research economist David Thompson worked with finance and project officer Rebecca Wright to create the short survey, and within a few days it received over 200 responses.
"The more we get, the more weight the outcomes of the survey will carry," Mr Thompson said.
"The downturn of non-farm businesses in regional communities because of the drought has taken an emotional, as well as a financial toll. The stories of struggle can be heart wrenching. Yet, we are seeing some extremely pragmatic and practical suggestions about how drought affected communities can be supported through realistic economic stimulus measures."
RDANI executive director Nathan Axelsson said the survey wasn't about politics, it was about helping "non-farm businesses access support or programs to help with this drought and similar weather events in the future".
"The drought is having direct and indirect negative impacts on communities and it is important that we quantify them," Mr Axelsson said.
"This is the sort of data that can assist governments to develop better support mechanisms for non-farm businesses in drought-affected areas now.
"We also hope this project will aid in the creation of more effective drought-preparedness policies for non-farm businesses into the future."
Mr Axelsson urged all non-farming businesses to fill out the survey so RDANI could "gather evidence for a call to action".
The survey can be accessed through RDANI social media or directly at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DroughtImpactOnBusinesses
The deadline for survey responses is Thursday, October 31 but this may be extended to cater for demand.
