It was a raw sight in Trangie on Sunday when drought awareness campaigner Edwina Robertson broke down in tears in front of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Mr Turnbull visited the town to make a further drought assistance announcement.
When he arrived he saw Ms Robertson and called her over. It was then she broke down in tears recounting the people she had met through her One Bucket Tour around NSW.
The breaking point for Ms Robertson was when she witnessed a family receive the news of a suicide of a close relative.
When she recounted the story to Mr Turnbull, Ms Robertson couldn’t help but break down in tears.
“I was with a family on Thursday, and they’ve been struggling with the drought, they have two farms on the market and looking at another dry year,” she said through tears.
“And on Friday morning they found out their brother-in-law had committed suicide.”
This is week five of Ms Robertson’s drought tour.
“The desperation isn’t going, it’s not on a weekly basis, it's on a daily basis,” she said.
“No one can make it rain, but acknowledgement and sufficient funding can help people get through until it does.”
Ms Robertson said the the federal government’s Sunday morning assistance announcement was “underwhelming.”
“The package is shor sighted, he needs to acknowledge the long term effects of this”.
“The desperation isn’t going, it’s not on a weekly basis, it's on a daily basis."
- Edwina Robertson.
Despite this Ms Robertson is glad she made the trip from Carinda to meet with the Prime Minister.
“I am glad I came today, I’m not a cocky, I’m not a journalist, I’m a politician. I'm an Australian that cares about real Australians, and even though I bawled my eyes out, it was real and everyone saw that,” she said.
Ms Robertson has called out to people to donate to charities around Australia.
“We all need to be consistent in our message of how bad the drought is,” she said.
“Our money is going to come from charitable help, we need Aussies to get together. [It] is not going to come from the government.”
If you, or someone you know needs assistance call Lifeline on 13 11 14
Grace Ryan
Deputy Editor at the Central Western Daily, Orange. You'll mostly find me tinkering in social media and newsletters. Working hard to get our stories in front of your eyes.
Deputy Editor at the Central Western Daily, Orange. You'll mostly find me tinkering in social media and newsletters. Working hard to get our stories in front of your eyes.
