Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Sheldon, who I know continues to do good work in his role as the Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery. I think all senators will have seen much of North Queensland being hit by significant and widespread rainfall in recent days, leading to flooding across an area spanning over 400 kilometres. This has led to many communities being cut off and many more being flooded. While North Queenslanders are famously tough, this is a big event, and I know that all of our hearts go out to people going through these floods right now.

Many have come together to deal with the impact of the floods, and I want to acknowledge the work of Senator Green over the last couple of weeks. She is actually representing the government at an official event in Queensland today. I also particularly want to acknowledge Minister McAllister, who's been heavily involved at a personal level in the planning and preparation for these floods and is actually in Townsville today, meeting with the Queensland Premier, Queensland state and local government officials, and emergency management agencies to mobilise federal support.

There are currently five national helicopters supporting state emergency services in North Queensland—one from our national aerial fleet and four from the ADF. This is the first time a national aerial asset has been deployed outside of bushfires. In addition, locally based ADF personnel have been assisting and continue to assist, and we thank them for their efforts.

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the woman who died in floodwaters in Ingham over the weekend and the rescuers who were with her at the time. I want to express the government's gratitude and, I think, all Australians' gratitude to our first responders and emergency management personnel, as well as those from industries such as energy and telecommunications who continue to focus their efforts on supporting these communities.

While the rain is easing today, the risk to communities and the level of response remain. The situation is constantly evolving, so people should continue to monitor for updates and warnings. We know this is a big flood, and our government will be there to support Queenslanders through it. (Time expired)