Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Cowper for his questions, and I note the interjections from those opposite—again—on the issue of an important question about bushfires. I was with the member for Cowper in Wauchope during those bushfires that ravaged the Mid Coast, as I was with other members across the Mid Coast and up the North Coast as the fires went through those communities. I saw the devastation with the member and my many other colleagues as we visited the many areas that were affected by those fires—including with the New South Wales Premier, who was there with me on that occasion when we went to Wauchope and visited the incident response centre. I want to thank all the members for their great cooperation and support—as we did in this House yesterday when we memorialised the terrible losses that were endured over this bushfire season, this 'black summer', which continues to this day.

What this government has been doing for the last six years is ensuring that the government has been in a place to build the strength and resilience, particularly of our financial resources, to ensure that, at a time of crisis, we can act and move forward and put resources into place. That's why we established the National Bushfire Recovery Agency, under the leadership of Andrew Colvin, and immediately put in another $2 billion to support the bushfire recovery effort and the rebuilding process to build back better, which this government will lead and ensure we are supporting those people on the ground. And we were able to do that without applying an emergency levy and tax on the Australian people. We didn't have to do that, like our predecessors did. We were in a position to do so because we had brought the budget back into balance. That is something those opposite were unable to do, and the only way they could provide that support is if they tax other Australians.

We have not done that. We did the work to ensure that we could rebuild the financial resilience of the government to be able to provide $76 million in important mental health support, $50,000 grants to small businesses directly impacted by these fires and a further $500,000 in loans where you don't pay anything back for two years—no interest—and then have discounted rates of interest over the balance of the eight years. We are providing $75,000 grants to primary producers, and more than $6 million of that support is already out the door. We have provided over $100 million in disaster recovery payments to over 75,000 people—including over 34,000 children to ensure that they could be supported particularly as they went back into school. We have supported our tourism industry. We are supporting those who are supporting wildlife and habitat, and the councils providing the response. That's action. That's the response. (Time expired)

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