Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Ian Macdonald very much for that question and acknowledge his long-held interest in the affairs of North Queensland and his great representation in this place of the people of North Queensland. I think I speak for all senators in sharing the concern Senator Ian Macdonald has expressed for the people of Far North Queensland affected by what is a terrible natural disaster. It includes the people who have lost their houses and their jobs. There are farmers who have lost their entire crops. There are businesses that have lost their premises and, indeed, their whole livelihoods.

Some members in the other place and senators here will have seen the devastation up there for themselves. Others of us can only look on in dismay at the pictures of destroyed houses, wrecked schools and banana plantations completely and utterly flattened. There is always a silver lining, and we see great hope in the resilience of ordinary Australians in the face of these calamities and in the way local communities have pulled together to extend a helping hand to those in need. We acknowledge the great work of our troops, the police, emergency services, nurses, electricity workers and others involved in helping with this massive clean-up.

We welcome the appointment by the Queensland government of Peter Cosgrove to coordinate the relief effort. We, for our part, will be working hand in hand with the Queensland government and Peter Cosgrove’s team to do everything we can to help the victims of Cyclone Larry. As the Prime Minister has announced, the initial Commonwealth contribution will be in excess of $100 million, with more to come as necessary. Forty million dollars will go to Queensland in line with our natural disaster relief arrangements. That will help relieve personal hardship and assist urgent efforts to rebuild public infrastructure. More funding will be made available under relief arrangements if required.

We are providing ex gratia assistance of $1,000 an adult and $400 a child for people whose homes were destroyed or are uninhabitable. Payments of $10,000 are available to small businesses and farmers to help re-establish themselves. Six months of income support and concessional loans of $200,000 are also available to affected small businesses and farmers. The Prime Minister announced yesterday that we will reimburse the excise on diesel and petrol used for electricity generation during this crisis. Our Centrelink staff are in the region manning one-stop shops to make sure the assistance gets to people as quickly as possible. We will be as generous as we need to be to help this region bounce back, which I am sure it will.

As finance minister, I think this is a demonstration of why it is important that we manage our federal budget sensibly and keep a healthy surplus. It means that the government is in a position to respond generously when our fellow Australians and, indeed, our neighbours, like Indonesia in the tsunami, have been hit by these natural disasters. The people of North Queensland—and I would ask Senator Ian Macdonald and others from that region to pass this on—can be assured that our government will continue to do whatever it takes to get this region back on its feet as quickly as possible.