Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

on indulgence—Mr Speaker, I join with you, and I'm sure I speak for every member of this House, in saying that we are thinking of all those Australians battling natural disasters. I note the comments that you've made in relation to the member for Kennedy; I spoke with Bob late on Sunday night and again yesterday. I note that the member for Herbert is also appropriately absent from the chamber, as well as the member for Dawson, and that Senator Jenny McAllister, the Minister for Emergency Management, is on the ground there. I spoke with Premier Crisafulli today, yesterday and on Saturday, and, indeed, last week I discussed with him what was heading that way. I do want to take the opportunity to offer our condolences to the family and friends of the woman who tragically lost her life in the floodwaters near Ingham on Sunday.

I received a briefing at the national headquarters here in Canberra yesterday morning. One of the things about this country is that, when you have a briefing and there's flooding and massive torrential rain in the north but extraordinary heatwaves in southern Australia, you do realise the extent of the danger that that represents. The fact that we can have more than one type of natural disaster at once really places strain. I do want to give a shout-out to all those emergency services personnel who are working at this time, whether that is through NEMA, through the state authorities or through the SES as volunteers. Also, one of the things I discussed with the Premier was people doorknocking, door to door, to make sure people were alerted and people were evacuated there in Townsville.

Some places in northern Queensland have recorded 500 mils of rain in a 24-hour period. Rising floodwaters are inflicting devastation on homes and communities; thousands have had to evacuate. I want to assure the House that, in this challenging time, we stand shoulder to shoulder with the Queensland government and with every Queenslander. Military helicopters have been deployed. We now have three helicopters at the disposal of the Commonwealth. One of those is in Queensland, one is in Victoria dealing with fires and one is in South Australia dealing with fires. In addition to that, there are four military helicopters that have been made available, two based in Townsville and two based in Oakey, and I thank the defence minister, as always, for the fact that the defence community comes on board when it is needed. We have indicated that we, of course, will provide whatever assistance is requested, and, already, some of the emergency payments have kicked in as well. One of the reasons why Minister McAllister is basing herself there is to see firsthand what is happening.

I say as well that heatwaves, of course, can also be incredibly dangerous, and yesterday, tragically, a woman lost her life at Mount Augustus when her vehicle became bogged and she left her car to try and walk back to the tourist park, where the temperature was in the high 40s. This is just a tragedy, and our thoughts are with her loved ones at the time of grief. There are bushfires of concern burning in Victoria, Tasmania, southern Western Australia and South Australia. The beautiful Grampians has already been badly affected by fires over summer, and I rang the member for Wannon during that period as well and had a discussion with him before I visited with Minister McAllister in between Christmas and the new year. I know that the local member was very active in engaging with those communities at that time, where I visited the Horsham Incident Control Centre with the premier, Premier Allan. We also flew over the fire affected areas and met with the volunteers.

It says something, though, about the Australian spirit that, at this point in time, there are volunteers from Queensland—even though there's an event in Queensland—helping out with firefighting in southern Australia. When I was at Horsham I met people from Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia, as well as Tasmania, who were all volunteering there. I thank everyone for the bravery and kindness that you are showing. This is a difficult time. We will remain vigilant. The Commonwealth will continue to offer whatever support is necessary, and I know that we do that on a bipartisan basis as national government as well. I'll continue to engage, particularly with the Queensland premier, about what is required there. We've already had some discussion about the need to build back better in a couple of cases, rather than just repeat some of the mistakes of the past as well. We'll engage constructively on all of those issues.

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