Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Capricornia for her question. Of course she was one of many members in this House who spent the weeks of summer assisting communities that were hit by natural disasters. In her case it was the city of Rockhampton being hit by flooding and being isolated for quite an extended period of time. Members on both sides of the House were called upon to assist their communities in that time of flooding. Members are still, in some parts of the country, being called upon to assist communities that have suffered flooding in recent days.

During that period, as we emerged from that summer of natural disasters with the flooding and then the cyclone, I made a pledge on the nation’s behalf—and that pledge was that we would not let go. We would assist the communities that had suffered so greatly during this period to rebuild. I said that all Australians would be with them during the rebuilding and recovery effort and that we would get on with it with good judgment and common purpose so that we could assist these communities to rebuild and to get on with their lives.

Last night two bills passed the Senate, the 51st and 52nd bills to do so in this parliament. They were the legislation to fund the reconstruction and recovery effort. We know these disasters have come at a terrible human cost and a cost to the economy. Queensland, which suffered so badly, is over one-fifth of our economy, and early Treasury and RBA estimates suggest that GDP growth will be half a per cent lower than would otherwise have been the case. Crop production will be around $1.2 billion less, there will be $300 million less in tourism, and coal production could be 16 million tonnes less in the March quarter.

As we go about this recovery and rebuilding we do know that, despite this economic setback from natural disasters, the underlying economy is strong. That is why it is appropriate to pay as we go. As the economy trends back to full capacity we will not take the soft option by deferring hard savings until four years from now. That is why the government took the decision to engage in savings. It was not easy, but it was the right thing to do. And we took the decision to defer infrastructure; once again, it was not easy, but it was the right thing to do. And we also took the decision to ask the Australian people—people of goodwill—to pay a flood levy, which was very fairly constructed so that 60 per cent of taxpayers are paying less than a dollar a week.

Of course, we made these tough decisions; we found the tough saves, rather than claiming it was easy. In doing so we did not play the politics of fear. We did not cut programs to earn a cheap headline. We got on with the methodical decision making necessary to rebuild Queensland and to rebuild the nation. As we know—

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