Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. I note also his very strong support and continual fight for the maintenance of the live sheep and live cattle industry—incredibly important to the people of Western Australia.

On 21 January, a once-in-a-lifetime or once-in-a-200-year flooding event occurred in the deserts between Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory due to 200 millimetres of rain. This brought about the loss or damage of about 300 kilometres of rail track near Tarcoola and also north into Darwin and the Northern Territory.

It was a great testament to our nation, on all levels of government, how we worked together to make sure the food continued to go into the shelves of Perth and into the shelves of Darwin. The government immediately engaged with industry and jurisdictions to keep freight moving and maintain food supplies and essential items to Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The National Coordination Mechanism was established to co-ordinate arrangements. The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator secured approval from South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland for triple road trains to operate via defined routes to carry essential food and grocery items to the Northern Territory, with trucks operating from 29 January. I had a lot of work to do with the Western Australian transport minister, Minister Rita Saffioti, and I would like to commend her for the way that we worked together in such a form as to keep food on the shelves in Western Australia.

On 31 January I issued a coastal shipping exemption to allow commercial vessels to carry goods to Western Australia without requiring a temporary permit until 22 March. Shipping companies have responded strongly, and I've already contracted 60,000 tonnes to move via sea. The government also arranged for the ADF to airlift essential supplies into Coober Pedy, with 13 flights from 31 January to 4 February. On 2 February the government established a hybrid road and rail bridge, providing connectivity between Whyalla and Kalgoorlie via road trains moving 5,000 pallets per week.

This shows the capacity of our side, working with the Western Australian government, to manage our nation and to keep food on the table, to follow a process where we need to make sure the shelves of the supermarkets of Perth have food on their shelves. We managed to avert what could have been a major crisis. It wasn't just the food; it was also the essential elements so that their drinking water could be maintained in a potable form. This is a clear example of how the management of this side of the chamber is in such exemplary form that such a major crisis was averted and it didn't make the news. (Time expired)

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