Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Barker for that question. It is a very good question and I appreciate that he has had discussions with me in the past about the bushfires that affected his community in January this year. The government is very aware of the toll that bushfires and other natural disasters do take on the Australian community. Unfortunately, as we all know too well, bushfires are a harsh reality in Australia, as are other natural disaster events. But every summer we continue to see communities that are devastated by bushfire. We know—and the member for Barker will know—that the impacts of bushfire last well beyond the event itself.

In the budget we announced the National Bushfire Mitigation Program, which will provide $15 million over three years, to help states and territories implement long-term bushfire mitigation strategies and better fuel reduction programs. I acknowledge that everything we do in this area is always done in conjunction with the states and territories, which do actually have first responder responsibilities for natural disasters in Australia. As the minister with responsibility for emergency management within the government I have discovered that the Commonwealth in and of itself does not have an enormous amount of hardware to respond to bushfires. We always do what we can with the assistance of the Australian Defence Force but, essentially, it is the responsibility of the states and territories. They do a magnificent job in doing so and the same goes for the way the South Australian government responded to the bushfires in January this year.

The National Bushfire Mitigation Program draws on a coalition election commitment. Through this initiative we can help to build stronger communities which are better prepared for when that bushfire threat becomes a reality.

The Abbott government recognises that we have to do something to address the increased toll that natural disasters are taking on Australian communities and businesses. That is why, with the support of all state and territory governments, we have commissioned a Productivity Commission inquiry into natural disaster funding. This inquiry will consider how we can best target our overall disaster funding in a way that better equips our nation for future disasters.

These are just two of the many investments we are making to better prepare the nation for future disasters. We are also providing over $52 million over two years to target natural disaster risk priorities in all states and territories and investing up to $12½ million to address the high cost of strata title insurance in North Queensland. And as anyone who spends a little bit of time in the coalition party room will attest—we do not normally talk about party room discussions, but I suspect the member for Leichhardt will not mind—the member for Leichhardt has been talking about this issue ad nauseam for many years. When we were in opposition, we were not in a position to do something about it. But the Abbott government has responded to those concerns, which are particularly acute in North Queensland with this $12½ million, which addresses the high cost of strata title insurance in his area and other parts of Queensland in particular.

I thank the member for Barker for this question. The way the Commonwealth government responds to natural disaster is very important. It costs the Australian taxpayer hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars depending on how bad any particular disaster season is.

This Productivity Commission inquiry is very timely. We will take the recommendations, which I expect to receive by the end of the year, very seriously, and we will look to implement them to make sure the enormous investment the Australian taxpayer is making in making sure Australian communities respond to natural disaster is spent in the most effective possible way. We will take the recommendations that the Productivity Commission makes very seriously and respond appropriately as a government.

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