Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Blair for his question and thank him also for his tireless work on behalf of his community and for keeping in touch during the course of last week. While I am at it could I also recognise in particular the work of the member for Brisbane, the member for Flynn and also the member for Ryan, who joined me on a site visit last week. All of them and indeed other members have done tremendous work in support of their local communities.

Last week the Prime Minister and I, and indeed Senator Ludwig—who spent the best part of last week assisting, in his endeavours, the community operations—had the opportunity to visit and see firsthand the devastation caused by the severe storms in South-East Queensland. I am pleased to say that the federal government has been able to assist in a number of respects. We are working very closely with the Bligh government. I commend the work of Premier Bligh, which has been outstanding, along with the work of one of those unsung heroes, Neil Roberts, the Queensland Minister for Emergency Services; he has also done an outstanding job.

Under the Commonwealth Government Disaster Response Plan through Emergency Management Australia, I was able to authorise the Queensland government’s request to provide 700 defence personnel. They did an outstanding job. I had the opportunity to meet with a number of those personnel. They were instrumental in clearing debris from powerlines, restoring power to infrastructure and to local homes and doing a lot of work securing roofs. I am very pleased to say that, along with the volunteers generally, the ADF in particular were clearly local heroes. They were blessed with donations of cakes, sandwiches and the odd can of beer after their duties. We were also in that context able to provide some 2,800 tarpaulins, and I would like to recognise AusAID for their contribution to that effort.

Under the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, we have recognised 13 local government areas for the purposes of personal hardship and distress grants. Those grants can be accessed through the Queensland Department of Communities. For the record, the telephone number is 1800173349. Under the Australian government disaster recovery payment, administered through my colleague the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, we are providing one-off payments to individuals affected: $1,000 for adults and $400 for children. The hotline for that grant is 1802266. Today I am pleased to be able to announce that the federal government is providing an additional $500,000 to match the contribution of the Queensland government to the Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal. That will significantly supplement a number of generous contributions from individuals and also corporations.

While this has obviously been tremendously devastating and traumatic for the local communities, it has been an excellent example of governments and indeed the community working together. At the place that I visited with the members for Ryan and Brisbane, we saw a community centre where all government agencies had been brought together. The Red Cross was also there, along with insurance companies assisting to process claims. While, in summary, the storms have been devastating, this really is an example of an ability to bounce back, to have resilient communities, and I would certainly commend and congratulate all those involved.

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