Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Sheldon for the question. As I've previously told the chamber, the Bureau of Meteorology has officially declared a La Nina event for Australia, with above-average rainfall predicted for most of the east coast of the country this summer. Given that this will be our third successive La Nina event as a country—something that I'm advised is incredibly rare—the risk of flash flooding and severe flooding is even higher than we have seen previously. That's why it's vital that our emergency management agencies are working to their best ability to make sure that we are prepared.

Earlier this month I formally launched the National Emergency Management Agency, or NEMA, bringing together the capabilities of Emergency Management Australia and the National Recovery and Resilience Agency into a single agency. NEMA brings together the capabilities of both agencies to provide support, prepare for future disasters, lead the response when disaster strikes and remain deeply connected with communities during recovery. Last week I announced Mr Brendan Moon as the new coordinator-general of this new agency. Brendan is one of Australia's foremost natural disaster professionals. (Time expired)