Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Once again the men and women of the Australian Defence Force have come to the aid and assistance of those affected by disaster. In this particular instance, I refer to the men and women from the 3rd Brigade in Townsville. They have come to the aid of the residents of Ingham, who have been badly affected by the floods, with the flood rising and then falling. I was in Ingham yesterday and I sought a range of views, and I detected something that we could do better through the emergency management processes and their relationship to Defence. There are very clear and settled guidelines on how emergency management agencies contact Defence and how Defence should respond. But I discovered there is no mechanism in the case of a flood—we can know up to two days before when there is going to be a major flood—where we can say to Defence: ‘We want to warn you that you are going to be needed. We want you to go on standby; we want you to pre-position assets; we want you to call up people because there is going to be a major flood.’ There is no provision to do that, so Defence is always reactive rather than proactive.

I do not think there is anyone who would object to the concept that Defence should be given the ability to be proactive. They do such a great job when they are on the ground and they have many of the assets that others in the community do not have that can assist in times of natural disaster. They have some terrific assets in helicopters and Caribou aircraft, short field landing aircraft, and so on. Today, I have written to the Minister for Defence and indicated to him what I have found on my visit to Ingham and how we might fix it. I know that Emergency Management Australia and Emergency Management Queensland would be most appreciative if the Minister for Defence could direct Defence to sort out what I think is a shortcoming in the arrangements when there is a natural disaster. I think there will be goodwill on all sides. It is not going to cost anything; it is just a way of better planning for when these things happen.

Yesterday the people of Ingham had a spring in their step, even though they have suffered dreadful flooding. We are hoping that the cane crop will not be affected. We will not know for another four weeks or so whether it has lost its sugar content or not, but we are hoping that it will not be affected. Certainly, like all Australians, the people of Ingham will bounce back. They will get on with their lives and we will, in fact, have a better outcome.