Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to take this opportunity to reassure my community and the House that the federal government is fully supporting recovery efforts one year on from the Townsville floods. Unfortunately, there has been some misinformation doing the rounds of my community, suggesting that the local council is waiting on tens of millions of dollars worth of funding for recovery and repairs following last February's monsoon.

I want to confirm that all of the federal government's promised funding has been paid to the state government. That includes a $109 million advance on 13 February last year just days after the disaster to restore essential services and provide hardship grants for individuals and small businesses. It also includes a $242 million package in March, a month later, to cover all the local government areas affected by the floods, including Townsville. The federal government's 50 per cent share of $121 million was transferred to the state government on 8 April.

The Queensland Reconstruction Authority, or QRA, is the state government authority for distributing these funds. The Townsville council applied for funding to the value of $98.5 million, but the QRA determined that $70 million of work was for assets not damaged during the monsoon or weren't eligible for funding. Council made further detailed submissions for category C and D funding in December that are currently being assessed. I want to encourage all levels of government—everyone involved—to work together to get our community back on track.

See this speech in context