Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Australia Day looked a little different in Townsville this year. On the eve of our national day, Tropical Cyclone Kirrily crossed the Queensland coast near Townsville, leaving significant damage in her wake. Although we are a strong and resilient community, the people of Townsville need financial assistance to get back on their feet. But the Albanese Labor government are refusing to come to the table.

Tropical Cyclone Kirrily was declared a category 3 system, with very destructive wind gusts of up to 170 kilometres per hour, just before it ripped through our community. More than 66,000 properties were left without power for many days. Property damage from fallen trees and destructive winds continues to be reported. Our community is persevering through the clean-up and recovery efforts. Some community members who lost fences are living with extra fear in our crime-riddled city, with serious garage door damage and fencing along their properties destroyed. In a city that is nationally renowned for crime, residents needed to be able to secure their homes urgently so those families are able to feel more secure. Ash's brand-new pharmacy in Belgian Gardens, which was set to officially open this month, has now suffered multimillion-dollar damage, after an electrical fire started when a surge when power was restored caused the printer to catch fire. Ash's pharmacy cannot trade, and his staff are out of work until the damage is repaired.

But the biggest and most pressing issue that I'm being contacted about is the several hundred dollars worth of food and medication that people have lost because of the loss of power. We are already in a cost-of-living crisis, and this natural disaster has made it worse. But people are being left without significant help. The government's current solution of $180 per individual is expected to cover food, clothing and medicine and replace damaged contents. This just goes to show how out of touch the Albanese Labor government is. You'd be hard-pressed to find a supermarket that could replace even the smallest portion of food contents with that money, let alone a garage door, a fence or medicine from a pharmacy.

I wrote to the Minister for Emergency Management, asking him to activate the federal government's disaster recovery payment. I've had no response. I've escalated that to the Prime Minister. I've had no response. I wrote to the state disaster recovery minister, asking for business grants. This request was rejected. I today even walked over to see Minister Murray Watt. He was too busy to talk to me. Cyclone Jasper hit on 13 December. The disaster recovery payment was activated on 19 December—six days later. Cyclone Kirrily hit on 25 January, and it's been 13 days with no activation, nothing, from this government. I call on the Labor government to do the right thing, activate the Australian government disaster recovery payment and help the community of Townsville get back on their feet.

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