At that time and with war looming, there was a clear need to ensure that our nation’s farmers had the resources and capability to support the nation in the wake of the great depression, deflation, and the dust bowl.
It also explains why Australia is the only country other than Japan to be a part of all three Asian support packages - those for Thailand, Indonesia and Korea. Australia has done what it can to help minimise the Asian fallout, but clearly events have turned out worse than we had hoped for.