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

I thank the member for his question and his interest in this very dynamic situation that spreads from Western Australia across to the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. In fact, only in the last couple of minutes I received an update from the Bureau of Meteorology that it now has flood warnings for both Victoria and parts of Tasmania, such is the scale of this event. It is one in which our emergency services have done an outstanding job protecting Australian lives. There's been not one fatality. Those men and women who have put themselves on the frontline have done an outstanding job in keeping us safe. To put that in perspective, there have been over 850 rescues and 9,500 requests for help. There are now 18,000 Australians who aren't in their homes today because of this rain event. But they will continue to work with not only the state governments in all those jurisdictions but also the federal government.

Today I can advise the House that I initiated the National Coordination Mechanism as a result of feedback from Senator Payne and the member for Macquarie around shortages in supermarkets in Western Sydney. I can advise the House that I've only just been advised by Coles that they intend to helicopter goods into their North Richmond store this afternoon as soon as arrangements can be made. So we will continue to make sure that that mechanism is worked through in every community where there are shortages and where we are unable to get trucks or boats across to support these communities in their hour of need.

We are also working with NBN and Telstra to make sure that they are ready to pivot into these communities where telecommunications have been brought down so we can restore them as quickly as we can. Last night, after a request from the New South Wales government, we allowed the support of two helicopters for rescue to be used in addition to their aircraft as well as standing up ADF's personnel to come in for the clean-up. So we are preparing for the clean-up as we speak now, understanding that this will take a considerable amount of time. We are working with those states around the assessments of the damage and we will build on the initial support that the federal government has outlined is there for those Australians who have endured damage to their properties, which is a disaster recovery repayment of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child. That applies to over 34 local government areas in New South Wales alone, but we are expecting the other states to make applications for that very soon. When they do, we will approve that and the money will flow through Centrelink, as it has already—over $3.5 million.

There is also income support for anyone whose income has been impacted. There is 13 weeks of income support at JobSeeker and Austudy levels. We encourage no-one to self-assess. The road to recovery for anyone who has been impacted will be a long one, but they should take solace from the fact that the Australian people will stand with them on that road to recovery in getting them back up and going again.

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