Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) 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. Will the minister please outline the arrangements the Morrison-Joyce government has in place to ensure we are well prepared for floods, bushfires and other natural disasters this season?

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

I thank the member for Parkes for his question and acknowledge not only his leadership but also the member for Riverina's, particularly over the last week, and, I suspect, coming into this week, as further forecasts are showing significant rainfall hitting northern New South Wales. We won't just see houses inundated with water. We have already seen millions of dollars wiped off this year's winter crop, a crop that was there to help those farmers that have endured drought to rebound. Sadly, we will continue to work with the New South Wales government in monitoring that and quantifying the damage. We will work with them constructively, as we have in Queensland, already this year, and in South Australia and Victoria.

That is the premise on which this government has worked since the bushfires of last year to ensure that we have a national approach. That's why we stood up the National Recovery and Resilience Agency on 1 July—to make sure that we have a coordinated approach, that we have people on the ground who can get around kitchen tables and work with those that have been impacted and who understand not just federal programs but also state programs, so no-one falls through the cracks. We've also stood up the Australian Climate Service, which is pivotal in bringing together data and information from 10 agencies, including the Bureau of Meteorology, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, CSIRO and Geoscience Australia, so that we have real-time data that we can provide to emergency services personnel to ensure they understand the gravity of the threat. It's also to ensure that we're prepared and ready immediately after the threat has dissipated and that we can get people into those areas and respond appropriately between federal and state agencies. It's never been done before, and it's an important step in protecting Australians into the future. We're also supporting that through the ERF. Of the $50 million that went into flood mitigation last year, $17.2 million has gone to the jurisdictions and I can ensure the House that the balance of that $50 million will go out in the next couple of weeks as jurisdictions satisfy the requirements of that. In fact, we will reopen again for this year so that $50 million in mitigation works are out there. We're also doing Rebuilding Australia, with $600 million going into projects, including $400 million for community projects, to build resilience—like a levy bank around a large community to not only protect it but to drive down insurance costs. We're also working with households. We've already done that in Queensland. We're supporting households by partnering with them to try to do improvements to their homes to improve their resilience against cyclones, floods or bushfires. We're undertaking practical measures of support to partner with the states. This is a joint partnership protecting Australians now and into the future.

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister claimed that his Emergency Response Fund would fund immediate response activities with up to $200 million a year. But the Prime Minister spent nothing for more than two years and has only recently spent the first $17 million. With people in my electorate still living in caravans, and parts of New South Wales now flooded, why didn't the Prime Minister use the money for immediate response activities like he said he would?

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

ORRISON (—) (): I thank the member forquestion on the very serious issue of providing support to constituents as a result of those bushfires. The answer to the question is: because we have already provided $1.7 billion from the National Bushfire Recovery Fund that's been delivered to locally led efforts on the ground. That includes $350 million for the local economic recovery projects in impacted communities, which includes those in the member's electorate but also in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia; and there's funding to support a range of mental health assistance and counselling, small business advice, hardening telecommunications infrastructure and primary producer assistance. Also, the $280 million Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants Program is assisting communities directly impacted by the Black Summer bushfires to address remaining priority bushfire recovery and resilience needs. Applications for that opened on 22 July 2021.

The Emergency Response Fund was to be there where there weren't other funds available. We created those extra funds. We did that in the middle of the fires themselves. That allocation of funding was made and, as I said, $1.7 billion has been provided; and we will continue to provide that support. The Emergency Response Fund is drawn on where there is a need for support in addition to the funding available, but I made it very clear that our government would continue to provide the resources that were needed for what was then the Bushfire Recovery Agency, which is now the agency led by the honourable Shane Stone that has people on the ground working with people to ensure they can get the support they need. One of the most important of those, as the member will recall—I thank the state member for Bega, Mr Constance, who worked very closely with me to ensure that the small business grants program was able to be more responsive to the needs on the ground. We worked together on that program, and I know he was very pleased that we've been able to deliver that support on the ground.

So $1.7 billion has already been delivered directly on the ground, with more funds still to follow. The recovery effort takes time, as the minister indicated in the answer to the previous question. It is very important that we are in there for the long haul, and hundreds of millions of dollars will continue to flow to these affected communities as they are building back and building their resilience for the future.