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

Thanks, Senator Sheldon. We know that investment in resilience and mitigation not only makes Australians safer when disaster strike; it also reduces the cost of recovery for governments and households. With a massive $1 billion pipeline of resilience and mitigation investment over the next five years through the Albanese government's flagship, Disaster Ready Fund, we expect to see these benefits continue to flow through to Australians in the coming years.

On the other hand, the former government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to even acknowledge climate change—and we know there are a few of them who still aren't quite there yet. Maybe by 2050 they will acknowledge climate change is happening, or even invest in disaster risk reduction. They failed to act as natural hazards grew more frequent and intense, and their $4 billion Emergency Response Fund didn't spend a single dollar on disaster mitigation. Their inaction is what has created the environment for rising risk in insurance premiums. The Albanese government takes these issues seriously. We're making Australia better prepared. (Time expired)