The Federal Government has doubled the amount of money available for low-interest loans to help drought-stricken farmers.
The move increases the loan allocation to $2 million and is among a raft of changes announced by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the New South Wales town of Forbes on Sunday.
Mr Turnbull said farmers were good businesspeople and would consider loans carefully.
"Farmers take on debt very prudently and of course the assessment of the loan takes into account their situation, so don't underestimate the business sense and savviness of our Australian farmers," Mr Turnbull said.
But grain farmer and grazier Neal Johansen from near Dululu in central Queensland said the last thing farmers like him needed was to add more debt.
"They [the low-interest loans] will only work if they will take over the current debt that we have and give us low interest rates," Mr Johansen said.
"If they really want to make low interest rates work, I think what they need to do is go to the farmer's bank and subsidise through that bank.
"We don't really want to be applying for new or more loans."
Mr Johansen has been drought declared since 2014 and could not plant any grain this winter due to a lack of water, so he completely missed a crop.
He said the grain storage shed initiative announced today was largely useless given he did not have much grain left to store.
Another $75 million will go to local councils facing water shortages.
Packages offer support
Mr Turnbull said the measures would help farmers boost their resilience.
"I want to say to our farmers: we have your back, there's no set and forget.
"We are constantly working to ensure you get every support you can.
"And of course, let's all pray for rain."
The value of the Federal Government's drought-assistance package is now $1.8 billion, as farmers across Australia struggle to feed livestock and grow crops.
