Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I wish to make a few remarks, on indulgence, about the floods in Queensland and to talk about the assistance that is available and being provided. The events in North Queensland and north-western Queensland are a catastrophe. Something like 60 per cent of the state, an area around the size of South Australia, is now flood affected. The irony is that something like 40 per cent of the state is drought affected and some areas are both. That is the cruel extreme of what is going on.

Ingham, where I was yesterday with the member for Kennedy, Mr Katter, is where the full force is being felt at the moment, along with what is occurring in the gulf. In the gulf people have been flooded in for weeks and weeks and weeks. The point has to be made that there are probably another couple of months to go in this wet season. What we are dealing with, particularly in Ingham, is a flood which, at its height, was 12 metres and is now at 11.7 metres. It has receded somewhat. The problem is that the tropical monsoon which is sitting off the coast could move back in. If it does, there will be further problems in the Ingham area and perhaps elsewhere in North Queensland or Far North Queensland. I know the member for Leichhardt is keeping a very close eye on what is going on. There was some very heavy rain in Cairns a night or two ago and further south and to the north of Townsville there is a huge mass of water. When it comes to Ingham alone there are something like 3,000 houses that are flood affected. A massive emergency relief operation is going on, with helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and boats—you name it. Fortunately, we have not seen the loss of life that we have seen in Victoria. So far, the damage is to property and to the local economy. But, if the floodwaters remain, the social impact will also be great over time. After all, if people have been stuck in their houses for a week and flooded in, it begins to have an impact on the nature of the community.

Fortunately, these are pretty stoic folk. They are North Queenslanders and they like a joke, they like a beer and they like a good time. It is great to see—and I saw it there yesterday in Ingham and in talking to the emergency service workers and so on—a great sense of community; people are out there helping each other. Even members of the emergency services from my electorate in Brisbane are already on the ground up there, and a state-wide operation is happening. Plenty of local volunteers and volunteers from elsewhere in the state are coming in to lend a hand. It may go on for some weeks.

But consider the plight of the communities in the gulf who have now been cut off for five weeks and who may have to endure being cut off for another six to eight weeks. To all those who are working up there in these difficult conditions—all the volunteers across the local communities and those who have come from elsewhere to help—I want to express the admiration of the House. In Ingham they are fortunate to have a local mayor, the chair of the Hinchinbrook Regional Council, who likes to be called Pino by his mates and the people he represents. Pino has been very, very effective up there on the ground. He is doing a terrific job. I first met him down here at the end of last year when he was at the local government conference organised by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. He is a great organiser, so we are seeing a great effort from the Hinchinbrook Regional Council and all volunteers on the ground.

Yesterday I called in to the recovery centre, where there were a number of elderly people and young families who have no homes to go to at the moment, and I ran into an older lady who looked me in the eye—her home is flooded and she was hanging around the centre—and said, ‘This is like being in a resort.’ She was having a good time, and she was busily organising all the other people there and making the most of it. North Queenslanders, particularly, have become used to floods over the years, but this is one that, by historical proportions, is certainly big. I want to repeat what I said on the ground yesterday in Ingham and on ABC radio in North Queensland: that the full support of the Commonwealth government, the state government and local authorities is there and, as time goes on and the waters recede, there will be a requirement for an even bigger effort.

I will also follow up on a point that was made earlier in the debate. ABC radio are up there doing a fantastic job. They have a mobile unit they bring in, from which they can broadcast to the affected areas and get information out really quickly. They are doing a superb job, as is the Queensland Department of Emergency Services and the Queensland Department of Communities. There is a flood hotline—1802222—which should be utilised, and the special payments that the government has announced for those affected in North Queensland and Victoria are being taken up. There have been something like 300 applications since the announcement on Saturday afternoon, because a lot of people are trapped, a lot of people cannot go to work and a lot of people cannot get access to any money at all, so those organisations are playing a very important role.

To conclude, I know that Mr Katter, the member for Kennedy, would wish to be here but he is in his electorate in Queensland working with locals. I also know that the member for Leichhardt has been in constant contact with his local authorities to the north. We in the Australian government stand ready to do everything we possibly can to assist the people in the north, as we will in Victoria. Whether it is fire in the south or flood in the north, we have to summon all our national strength and all our compassion to assist people to deal with these terrible challenges.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On indulgence: I thank the Treasurer for his update and report on events in North Queensland. He rightly refers to the enormous contrasts in our country. That we could have such heat, fire and tragedy in the south and then extensive flooding in the north is quite extraordinary. If I may refine slightly the figures that the Treasurer quoted, my understanding is that close to two-thirds of Queensland is flood declared, around half is drought declared and a quarter does not have any declaration at all, so clearly there is a significant part of the state of Queensland that has endured all of the contrasts of weather in a very short period of time.

I am reminded also that many of these people in North Queensland who are seriously affected now by flooding are the same who endured the effects of a cyclone not all that long ago—the cyclone that will be remembered, I think, by all Australians because it brought on the great banana drought, which helped us to appreciate how much we enjoy bananas as a part of our lifestyle in this country.

There are people enduring many weeks of flood inundation, especially in the Gulf of Carpentaria. There will be many months that these people will be cut off from the outside world. I referred, when this matter was discussed last week, to the loss of stock and the loss of property throughout that area. These people are used to wet times, and they are set up to deal with them. But sometimes this goes on a little too long for even the bravest of friendships not to be tested.

I welcome the government’s commitment to provide support and assistance. We particularly think today of the families of the three people who are feared lost in these floods, especially the family of the five-year-old boy who, it seems, may have been taken by a crocodile. These are especial tragedies that add to the misery and the grief that are being endured by the whole community.

I compliment the government on sending Brisbane based minister Craig Emerson to North Queensland to keep a direct eye on what is happening in that regard. I thank him also for taking the member for Herbert with him on his aircraft. Senator Macdonald and the member for Herbert are North Queenslanders and they have geared up their offices to provide direct care and assistance and a pipeline to people who are in need. But I am aware also that the emergency services, the local councils and the various government agencies have moved quickly into action to provide assistance wherever they can.

Again, another major reconstruction effort will be required in North Queensland, and again it will be ongoing. It will take quite some time. One of the issues that arose out of the cyclone was a commitment to upgrade a substantial part of the road system north of Townsville, and some of that work is underway. But, then again, floods can sometimes be so big that even the new roads go under water, and I hope that this experience will demonstrate again to all Australians that we do need to have an all-weather road system in Far North Queensland and to commit to that kind of construction effort, as well as to restoring the property, the livelihoods and the wellbeing of those people who are affected by this flooding. In some parts of Australia we have streets in ashes—in other parts, streets covered by water. And we need to help all of those people as best we can.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the member for New England, on indulgence, as the member representing the member for Kennedy.

Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek the indulgence of the House to read a statement from the member for Kennedy. I think everybody would be aware of the passion that he holds for the people in his seat. Obviously he is not in the chamber today. I will do my best to impersonate him!

Honourable Member:

Honourable member—You’ll have to start laughing!

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not necessary.

Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Kennedy’s statement reads:

In my absence, occasioned by me remaining in the flood areas, I have asked the member for New England to read a statement on behalf of the people in these disaster zones.

North Queensland has suffered not the worst floods, but definitely the most widespread serious flooding in recent history. The flood zone extends across much of Northern and Central Queensland, covering the entire electorate of Kennedy from our western border with the Northern Territory, across the Gulf and mid-west plains to the coastal towns of Gordonvale, Innisfail, Tully, Ingham and many others.

We have reportedly suffered the loss of three lives so far. This is in spite of the gallant efforts of many of our volunteer SES, who at Ingham alone had reportedly recorded 42 rescues in the first two days of flooding.

What is deeply troubling is that we are only halfway through our wet season. Any further monsoonal or cyclonic rain influence will have the most serious consequences. Mass evacuation of communities has never taken place before, but some have been very near run-in things.

Some inconveniences are small, and some are not. I am informed that yesterday Charters Towers ran out of chicken as the supply van could not cross the flooded Burdekin River. This situation applies to a number of similar suppliers that have not been able to reach the 50,000 people living in Charters Towers, Mount Isa and the other mid-west towns of North Queensland.

In Ingham yesterday I spoke to Carol Mackee, the local chairman of the Cane Farmers Association. Carol said that some farmers in her area will record a 50 per cent loss of this year’s cane crop. It must be noted that every farmer I spoke to pointed out that without the cane there would be potentially a massive loss of topsoil.

Prior to cane, this area was covered by a tree canopy which left the ground bare of grass cover. Without going into specifics, this bare land resulted in a kilometre of land at Lucinda Point simply vanishing in one giant flood. Cane has bound the soil and minimised some of the potentially catastrophic impacts of the flooding.

The Gulf communities from Georgetown west have been cut off now for over two weeks. The very hardworking and excellently performing mayor of Georgetown, Warren Devlin, has said that a bridge over the Einsleigh River—

I think that is it. The Treasurer might take note. My pronunciation has been corrected—

costing only $15 million, would have at least enabled road access to the towns of Georgetown, Croydon and Normanton for most of this period. These towns and Karumba, Burketown, Doomadgee and Mornington Island have not been serviced, except by very expensive air drops, since a week ago when regular air services were terminated.

Karumba, the only natural port in the 1,500-kilometre Australian Gulf coastline south of Weipa, could be operating if the government were to invest in a $40 million road, a $15 million bridge and a $15 million harbour facility. This town is now all but surrounded by 15 kilometres of raging, crocodile-infested floodwaters. Unless one wants to traverse these waters at night in a three-hour trip in a very small boat, then one cannot get out of Karumba to the all-weather landing strip at Normanton. It may be that there will be a loss of life if someone in Karumba were to break a leg or experience a heart-attack.

It does not reflect well on the powers that be that they could not place a small casualty evacuation helicopter on standby at Karumba or Normanton that is night-rated and able to facilitate casualty evacuation. I would plead—

and I think members have heard the member for Kennedy plead the interests of his people before—

with state authorities to:

• borrow one of the hundreds of helicopter CASvac stretchers at army bases such as Townsville;
• put a retainer on to keep a helicopter at Normanton. One is presently based there doing Ergon and Telstra jobs; and
• secure clear cut approval from CASA for this helicopter to do night emergency evacuations.

The perilous situation at Karumba, with water still lapping at the edges of houses throughout the town, is not expected to abate for another 6 to 9 weeks. That is assuming that the Norman River catchment receives no further rain.

We are in the unhappy situation of knowing that the Gulf, the Burdekin, the mid-west and the Herbert River catchments have all suffered the second worst flood in recorded history, and Ingham has suffered its third worst flood in recorded history. But the bad news for us old hands is that we are only half way through our normal wet season, with February being our wettest month.

The region is one of the few parts of Australia with a large expanse of land and reliable, big annual rainfall. Irrigated land in this region supply a significant part of Australia’s lychees, mangos, bananas, pineapples, avocados, pawpaws and potatoes.

At the time of speaking there is some $8-10 million worth of fresh fruit and vegetables in cold rooms and sheds in the cut-off coastal areas. Many of these goods have been there for over a week and their shelf life is ending. From today onwards they will bit by bit have to be thrown out.

It is with great bitterness—

and I wish I could impersonate the member for Kennedy at this part, but I am sure members will see through my veneer—

and very considerable anger that my request for an airlift for these fruit and vegetables, made Thursday last week, has still not been answered. Not a single kilogram of these goods has been moved. All I have at this point in time is what I had on Thursday afternoon—assurances that the matter is being addressed and that there are legal and technical difficulties in using army planes sitting at Townsville airport. To quote my late father the then Minister for the Army “every month those planes have to fly as part of meeting maintenance, training and readiness programs”. Such flying time can be very useful if put into emergency assistance to bunny hop these fruit and vegetables the very short distance from Tully or Innisfail to Townsville.

People have spoken to me with great anger that these facilities have been provided to the South Pacific Island and Asian Nations in times of need. Again I repeat with great bitterness and anger, I counted 4 Caribou aircraft at Townsville Airport yesterday doing nothing. These aircraft are ready, and able to provide much needed assistance to the farmers of the Far North.

I wish to thank the Commonwealth Treasurer for visiting Ingham yesterday to survey the impact of the floods. I will greatly appreciate his action in providing emergency fruit and vegetable transportation over the next 2 to 3 days. After this time, it is expected that inland and some coastal routes to Townsville might reopen.

I appreciate the recent Government announcement of immediate financial assistance of $1,000 for flood-affected families. However, we require immediate fodder drops and longer-term financial assistance is also sought in the form of subsidised interest rates and some government grants. Development banks were established for addressing these situations. However, they have been sold off and their effectiveness, and I must emphasise PROFITABLE operations, are sorely missed.

In the long-term, road access could be considerably improved with Government investment in road works at Gairlock between Ingham and Cardwell and some upgrading of the Atherton-Charters Towers alternative route.

I thank the House for its consideration and, on behalf of the people of the Kennedy electorate, we send our deepest sympathies to the people of Victoria whose plight has been even more life-threatening than ours.

Mr Speaker, on one further personal indulgence: I support the comments of the member for Murray in relation to the ABC and the invaluable role it has played both in Queensland and in Victoria.

On a personal level, I think we all reflect on our own families at these times. Our eldest son is, as we speak, in a helicopter dumping water on fires in New South Wales. He spoke to his mother the other night and told her with a great degree of pride that they had just saved a house in the Hunter Valley that had been well manicured in terms of fire protection. The people at work, the volunteers and, in his case, a helicopter were able to stop the fire only metres from the house.

On behalf of the Independents, including the member for Kennedy, who is not with us today, I say that we would like to associate ourselves with the comments that were made earlier in terms of both these tragedies.