A snapshot of the drought across Australia

Drought is affecting more than half of Queensland and nearly all of NSW, with the conditions said to be among the worst since 1965.

Malcolm Turnbull with farmers Phillip and Ashley Miles. Source: AAP

AUSTRALIA'S BIG DRY

* The current drought is one of the worst in the past century.

* Autumn in 2018 was the fourth-warmest autumn on record, with rainfall totals below average for most of Australia.

* Last month was also the driest July nationally since 2002.

* In NSW, drought is affecting roughly 99 per cent of the state, with the Western, North West, Northern Tablelands, Hunter, Central West, Central Tablelands, Riverina and South East regions hardest hit.

* About 58 per cent of Queensland is in drought, with producer group AgForce saying parts of the state's west and south have been drought-affected for more than six years.

* Along with parts of NSW and Queensland, rainfall deficiencies deepened in July in northern Victoria, eastern pastoral and southern agricultural regions of SA and southern WA and its Gascoyne coast.

* On top of the dry conditions, there is a 50 per cent chance of an El Nino weather event developing in spring 2018, which is linked with below average rainfall in Australia's southeast.