Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Clearly, the most important thing is that we continue, as a federal government, to collaborate with the states and territories so that we have a united response when it comes to disasters and disaster-recovery arrangements. Often these arrangements are going to depend on the individual circumstances of the particular disaster, because we know that the Commonwealth will be prepared and has often paid up to 75 per cent of the total cost of the disaster. Under these arrangements, states and territories have the ability to build back more resilient buildings, services and public assets to make sure that they're in a better position to withstand future disasters. A classic example of this, Senator McDonald, was after Tropical Cyclone Debbie, when we funded a $1.85 million upgrade for the seawall at Shute Harbour so that it is able to withstand the tidal impacts of future disasters.