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

Today is the second anniversary of the devastating floods that hit the Northern Rivers of New South Wales after hitting South-East Queensland in the days before. Having been to the Northern Rivers countless times since then, I know it's going to be really difficult for people in the region today. My thoughts and the thoughts of the Albanese government are with the survivors of that disaster today. We're still thinking of them, and we're still working for them. Only last week, I was in Sydney meeting with New South Wales government ministers about how we can keep moving on the recovery effort. Billions have now been committed to help the region build back better. We're at a point now where 721 offers of home buybacks have been made, of which 562 have been accepted and 309 completed; the others are working through the system. We're committed to supporting more mitigation and resilience work in the Northern Rivers region to reduce the effects of future flooding disasters. That includes upgrades to local flood warning infrastructure, investing in our Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program and delivering our signature disaster ready fund.

With climate change increasing the severity and frequency of disasters, we are again faced today with the threat of serious bushfires in Victoria and South Australia. As of 1 pm today, all fires are burning at a 'watch and act' level or below; however, the worst of the fire weather is ahead of us. It's not too late to make sure that local residents are taking action to keep safe. Conditions across South Australia and Victoria will be extremely dangerous today. If you live in any of the areas where there is an extreme or catastrophic weather forecast, please take action now. If you wait for a fire to start, it may be too late. We've moved the National Large Air Tanker water bomber to South Australia to assist, and we've been working with states, territories and the National Resource Sharing Centre to provide interstate support as required. I encourage everyone in the affected area to stay across the alerts from local authorities and stay tuned to emergency broadcasting on their local ABC.