"The bushfires have been disastrous and as a nation we held our breath at the threat and tragedy but we must not forget about the long slow burn of devastation still being caused by the drought which has crippled much of eastern Australia," Ms Mioche said.

"December had the lowest rainfall on record for Australia and we still have people in our diocese - which covers 52 per cent of NSW - who missed out on rain this week, continuing to severely limit water resources, soil moisture and any hope of a crop or livelihood for 2020."

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"The impacts on our rural and remote communities is dire, we need help," Ms Mioche said.

She said while it was wonderful to see a positive and fast response by the Australian government who committed $76 million to mental health and trauma informed care for bushfire affected areas, just $6.3 million has been committed over two years for mental health and counselling in drought affected areas.

"We are trying our very best to help meet the increasing needs for our communities," Ms Mioche said.

"We support families, parents and children, relationships, financial counselling, domestic violence, homelessness, youth as well as our indigenous communities - all areas of need escalating as the tyranny of drought cripples our rural and remote communities."

She said as we enter our fourth year of drought, for some areas, rural economies are continuing to decline, basic resources are almost non existent and the social impacts are heartbreaking.