SELINA GREEN: You are with Selina Green on the Country Hour today. Well, joining me now is John Howard, who is the CEO of the RIC, the Regional Investment Corporation, who is in South Australia alongside the Minister [for Agriculture Julie Collins] for this announcement today. John, thank you very much for your time on the program.
JOHN HOWARD: Hi, Selina. Thanks for having me.
SELINA GREEN: Thanks very much for joining me and for your patience today. Some certainty for the RIC going forward, particularly beyond next year. Is this something that you expect that farmers will have some relief to hear that this is a guaranteed certainty that the RIC will continue to provide loans?
JOHN HOWARD: Absolutely. It's fantastic news for the whole primary industry sector. It's great news for the RIC and it's a great endorsement of a lot of work that we've done over the last 2 or 3 years to improve how our operations are. And to have an additional 3 new loan products in addition to the additional funding that's coming forward is great for the sector, great for the RIC and great for our staff.
SELINA GREEN: Those new loan products, what can you tell us about how those are going to be applied, who they will be available for and what capacity there is to provide those new loan products?
JOHN HOWARD: So there's announcements that have been made today. Firstly, with the marine algae bloom loan product. So, that'll be in the first half of next year. There's some details that the government has to work through to be able to provide us with the specifics to implement that one. The new news today was the announcement of a Drought Hardship Loan. So, in addition to the Drought Loan that we currently do, [for] those that have been suffering drought periods for in excess of 2 years, there's a new $250,000 loan that will be incurring interest, but that will be deferred - the payment of that will be deferred for the first 2 years of that 5-year loan product. So, that's in recognition of those hard times, helping them manage through those further extended drought periods. So, that one was a good one, and that'll come out in the first half of next year as well.
SELINA GREEN: So, you're feeling pretty confident that those loan products will be available in that time period. By the middle of next year, they should be ready to go?
JOHN HOWARD: Well, definitely from the RIC's side of things, as the Minister just announced, there's some regulatory work that needs to be done to get all the background and the mechanics in place to enable that. But as far as an entity, we're in a place now that we've got capabilities in-house that we can deploy those loans, and we'll work with the government to get that done as soon as we can.
SELINA GREEN: I asked the Minister there around the processing times. That was something that was raised around having those loan applications processed and finalised. Has there been work into that space already, or what work is planned to expediate those applications?
JOHN HOWARD: Absolutely, is the answer to that. And that'll be working on making sure all the appropriate mechanics and operating elements are in place when the programs actually get launched. But we control all of that internally at the RIC now, and we're in a good spot to be able to manage the demand expectations that we see.
SELINA GREEN: Do you have any concept or idea of what kind of demand that you will be getting out of these new loan products? Obviously, they're new, but do you have any indication of what kind of demand you might be getting for these?
JOHN HOWARD: No, but I look forward to working through that over the next period of time. Look, I think it would be considerable because when cash flows are tight, the new Drought Hardship Loan will be for those that are in the eligibility criteria that was announced today was for those that are entering a 3rd year of a drought. So, therefore, their cash flows have been constrained for a period of time. Here's a product that helps fund something for a period of time, where they don't have to incur the interest expense. So, I'm expecting that for those areas that are going into that 3rd period, that the demand and need for that product would be there, and we're looking forward to supporting that.
SELINA GREEN: John Howard, thank you very much for joining us on the Country Hour today.
JOHN HOWARD: Selina, thank you very much.
