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

I thank Senator Sheldon for his question and for his terrific work as Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery. As you know, Senator Sheldon, since our election 12 months ago the Albanese government has worked hard to ensure that Australia is better prepared for future natural disasters. The years of 'I don't hold a hose' and 'It's not my responsibility' ended on 21 May last year when we had a government elected that was prepared to take responsibility and ensure that Australia is better prepared for what lies ahead.

We know that, by investing in projects that prevent the impact of natural disasters, we can keep communities safer. Every dollar spent on resilience and mitigation saves on recovery. In fact, every dollar spent on resilience and mitigation delivers a return on investment to governments and households nine times over. That's why last week I announced the first round of the Albanese government's new Disaster Ready Fund. This is the biggest ever long-term investment from federal, state and territory governments working together in boosting Australia's preparedness for natural disasters.

With co-contributions from states, territories and councils that investment will reach up to $2 billion over the next five years in disaster mitigation. Through that we're investing in hard infrastructure, like seawalls, drainage improvements, cyclone shelters, flood levees and runways. We're improving telecommunications and digital connectivity, subsidising home retrofitting and funding research to better understand community risk. A large number of these projects will address issues that communities have wanted fixed for years but were just not dealt with by the former coalition government. For example, the upper Brown Hill Creek in South Australia has been identified as an area of concern for over a decade, and I know that flood mitigation projects in areas including Campaspe Shire, Doomadgee in north-west Queensland and Cabonne in western New South Wales will also be welcomed by these communities still recovering from last year's devastating floods. While we can't change what they've already experienced, we can help to reduce their risk into the future, and that's exactly what the Disaster Ready Fund is doing. (Time expired)