Brett Smith and Shane Stone

22 September 2020

The Co-ordinator General for Drought & NT QLD Flood Shane Stone meeting with the CEO Rural Busines Support SA and NT in Darwin. Rural Business Support is a not for profit organisation based in South Australia and also servicing the Northern Territory. RBS delivers the Rural Financial Counselling Service (RFCS) in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Supported principally through the Federal Department of Agriculture and an important tool for the Drought & North QLD Flood Agency I lead. The RFCS is a free, independent and confidential financial counselling service for eligible clients and has played a key role in the flood and drought zones. The Rural Financial Counselling Service began nationally in 1986 after a meeting of rural community groups. The decision was made to support the development of local financial counselling groups within regions that were deemed to be in difficulty through drought, depressed commodity prices and increasing interest rates with Rural Financial Counsellors appointed throughout Australia. Subsequently, the Rural Business Support was formed (they go by different names around Australia), expanding its services to the whole agribusiness sector. By mid-2020 when challenges including drought, the Black Summer bushfires and COVID-19 took a toll on rural communities, Rural Business Support employed 50 financial counsellors and support staff.



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