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

Thank you, Senator Sheldon. I know Senator McKenzie is particularly touchy about this because, of course, she was the emergency management minister who did not build a single mitigation project using that Emergency Response Fund. Who can forget that fund? It came to light after those terrible floods in Lismore last year. The former government's failed Emergency Response Fund, nearly $5 billion in funding, did not build a single mitigation project in three years. In fact, all it did over that time was earn the former government over $800 million in interest. Rather than keeping Australians save, the coalition put the money in a safe and earned interest on it rather than helping Australians. It was another example of a government that loved an announcement but was terrible in delivery.

In contrast to that, the Albanese government, in just our first year, has committed up to $1 billion over five years.