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

The 2022 February floods were the worst floods the Northern Rivers has ever seen. I know Senator McAllister has also spent a significant amount of time there, hailing from the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. Last week, I was back in Lismore with local state member, Janelle Saffin, Mayor Steve Krieg, Senator Sheldon, Senator McKenzie and the federal member, Mr Hogan, to commemorate the one-year anniversary and reflect on the past 12 months. I was honoured to meet and thank locals in the tinnie army as they were presented with medals for their courageous efforts helping to rescue strangers trapped by floodwaters.

Recently, I announced $50 million of flood resilience projects to be delivered under tranche 1 of the Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Grants Program, fully funded by the Albanese government. This includes things like road raising, flood pumps, drains and community resilience projects. The remaining $100 million of projects will be announced within the next six months, but we know that more support will be needed. We're also cost sharing to major resilience programs including the Resilient Homes Program and the Regional Roads and Transport Recovery Package. (Time expired)