Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

As I have said, there is a range of assistance being jointly provided through the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements. What the opposition fail to understand is that right across Australia, through Emergency Management Australia and the relevant emergency departments in the states, we have arrangements in place. Perhaps they should understand this because they fail to grasp that there are natural disaster relief and recovery arrangements available. When states activate an area and advise the Commonwealth that there is an area that has suffered a natural disaster—