Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia, representing the Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience, and I note the Black Summer bushfires which devastated large areas of my electorate of Gippsland. Will the minister please update the House on the progress that our federal government has made on the implementation of recommendations from the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements?

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Gippsland for his question. I acknowledge his extraordinary leadership not just during that bushfire but also in helping his community recover, and I acknowledge all the members of parliament, on both sides of the House, for their leadership of their communities in rebuilding them. As part of that, today 12 months ago I handed to this parliament the royal commission's report into the natural disasters. I'm proud to say that, of the 80 recommendations—15 were towards the federal government—we have completed, in full, nine of those. The five that are to be completed are on track to be completed, as outlined through that report.

We are working with the states in ensuring that the balance that is shared and that they own themselves—are working in collaboration to achieve that. Proudly, we've been able to make sure that those recommendations have been implemented around, particularly, the National Emergency Declaration Act that was put into this parliament nearly 12 months ago. We have also created the National Recovery and Resilience Agency, which will look after all natural disasters into the future, making sure that we have a national approach.

We've also stood up the Australian Climate Service, which will bring together the data of over 10 federal agencies to make sure that our emergency services personnel have real-time data in not only addressing these disasters but also preparing for the recovery immediately. We've also stood up Emergency Management Australia and enhanced their capabilities with over $23 million, to make sure that they have enhanced capabilities to support states. We've created a national warning system and a national fire danger rating system to make sure there is consistency right across this country so there's no confusion amongst our communities.

We've also worked with the states to streamline our Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, and, importantly, we've put $4 million out, as per the report, to acquire a national large aerial tanker. That takes our commitment to up to $30 million a year. That's not just in the standing costs of having these planes, this suite of aircraft, sitting on the tarmac; we also cover the cost of operation when required.

We also put $88 million into the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre to ensure that we have the best research in the world to support our emergency services personnel, and we've also ensured that over $37 million has gone into improving telecommunications during natural disasters, particularly focusing on those areas that were impacted by the bushfires this year. We've allocated $600 million to infrastructure at a household level and a community level to build better preparedness infrastructure to support our communities, and we're partnering with the states, with over $130 million in further programs. As part of the ERF, $50 million has gone out to flood mitigation.

We've achieved a lot. There's a lot more to do, but we've also learnt a lot, and we're ensuring that Australians will stay safer into the future.