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

This severe weather is very widespread, with disaster declarations for the September-October floods and storms now in effect in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland. As I mentioned earlier, in Australia, there are currently around 200 local government areas which are disaster declared and receiving state and federal support. This includes a combination of support for individuals, financial help for councils and homeowners for clean-up and repairs of roads, bridges and other infrastructure, support for primary producers, assistance for small businesses, and hardship grants for non-profit groups. Currently, we're delivering support that will help communities' immediate needs as we continue to assess the longer term supports that will be necessary to help towns recover and rebuild.

The Albanese government continues to work very closely with state governments and councils to make sure that appropriate support is getting where it's needed. I'm very pleased to see such bipartisan spirit, and I acknowledge the contact I've had with Senator Davey, in her shadow role, along with other members of the National Party.