Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note the Leader of the Opposition has made comments on this in 90-second statements but I also wanted to say that I have spoken to the Premier of New South Wales and the Premier of Queensland today and I do want to place on record the fact that the entire parliament, the entire place here, is standing with the people not just of Queensland but also of New South Wales today. In Queensland, we know they have been dealing with these ravaging fires now for some days, particularly in the member for Flynn's electorate, in and around Gladstone. We've heard about the real challenges there, particularly over the next 24 hours, and we are expecting some extreme heat conditions across Queensland over the next three or four days. The Commonwealth stand ready to provide support to Queensland and the emergency services there through our own offices, and that offer has been made to the Queensland Premier today.

Also, in New South Wales there have been some very severe storms, both across the Sydney metropolitan area and particularly down on the South Coast of New South Wales in the electorate of Gilmore. The Premier is currently on her way to attend a briefing there and she will update me further this afternoon. All agencies of government will be working with their state counterparts in both New South Wales and Queensland to ensure that the services they need are provided in the most prompt and most cooperative way possible.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to echo the Prime Minister's comments. We live on a challenging continent, where you can see not only amazing storms drench Sydney but terrible bushfires further up the Australian coast between Cooktown and Gladstone. There are 80 fires burning but of particular concern in these conditions are some of the fires near Gladstone. There is a little town called Baffle Creek. It is not even really a town. There is the Wartburg State School, a bait and tackle shop, a petrol station convenience store, a liquor store and a real estate agent. There are about 1,000 households in this area. Most have evacuated. There are perhaps 50 households which have not.

What's been happening for the last number of days is all of the emergency services, the volunteers and the professionals, in particular the rural fire brigades, have been fighting this fire site for five days. I spoke to the Mayor of Gladstone, Matt Burnett, and he explained that today was crunch day. So as the rains and the heavens fall upon us here further south, the fire brigade there has got to try and stop the fire getting to Coast Road; otherwise, people will be blocked. We're very fortunate to have our volunteers and professionals, and they should know that we're thinking of them today.