David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister is correct. As part of the legislation—and it should be no surprise to those opposite; they voted for it—within the $200 million there is $150 million that can be used to rebuild after a catastrophic event. That can be used only after other mechanisms have been exhausted; hence the $2 billion in immediate recovery that has been put forward for bushfire recovery. The department has given advice that that should not be utilised, because there is $2 billion available. The $150 million will not be utilised.

Those opposite in fact voted for that piece of legislation. Either they did not read the legislation when they voted for it or they are playing politics rather than looking after the people who deserve it. There is $50 million of that $200 million that can be utilised for building resilience. There in fact have been applications made by a wide range of communities that are being assessed by Emergency Management Australia as we speak. It is for them to determine what those projects should be, and we invited all members, no matter their political persuasion, to put forward those programs. But this forms part of the very piece of legislation that those opposite supported yet obviously did not read the detail of, and now they are upset about the fact that they didn't understand how this would be utilised and do not acknowledge that this government has put over $2 billion towards the bushfire recovery alone.

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