Farmers will be able to claim an immediate deduction on the bill for new fencing and water infrastructure, effective from July next year.

Gogeldrie grower Rob Houghton said it would provide an incentive to irrigators to upgrade to automated systems.

“The instant tax break is the carrot there,” he said.

“That incentive to use the latest technology is certainly a win for irrigation farmers.”

Member for Riverina Michael McCormack said the incentives would provide a big boost for the region, with countless farms having been ravaged by fire and flood in recent years across the electorate. “The writedowns for farmers on water infrastructure and fencing are important – you only have to fly over the Riverina to see the amount of fencing (in the electorate),” Mr McCormack said.

“Farmers who were thinking twice about putting up another fence … they can now go out with every confidence and start knocking in the strainer posts and ordering the barbed wire and netting.”

But it wasn’t all good news for Riverina farmers in this year’s budget, with the government set to cut funding for water buybacks by $22.7 million over two years from July 2017. Mr McCormack, however, framed the cuts to buybacks as providing certainty for farmers.

“We don’t want ad hoc buybacks – that’s what was hurting irrigators before,” he said.

“We are the friends of irrigators and farmers.”

A statement from Treasurer Joe Hockey and Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said the 2015 Budget formed part of the Commonwealth government’s plan to build a "strong, safe and prosperous future for all Australians".

Despite significant incentives for farmers and small business in this year’s budget though, it has been savaged as desperate and contradictory by Riverina Labor secretary Tim Kurylowicz.

“This government is desperate to buy the electorate’s forgiveness, but can’t do anything without contradicting itself,” he said.

“Cutting parental leave in half to pay for childcare, sacking thousands of Australian Tax Office staff and then wanting to crack down on tax evasion – it’s ripping the bandages from one wound to staunch the bleeding in the next.”

Mr Kurylowicz claimed cuts to health and education included in last year’s budget hit the Riverina harder than any other electorate, while the bottom line looked continued to look shaky.

“Labor’s last budget had government spending at 2.2 per cent of GDP – among the lowest since federation – while the Coalition’s, by comparison, is among the highest at 25.9 per cent,” Mr Kurylowicz said.