Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Emergency Management, Senator Watt. Over the last week, remote communities in my home state, and in your home state, of Queensland have had devastating flooding. Can the minister please advise what the Albanese government is doing to support these communities?

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

Thanks again, Senator Sheldon, for your ongoing work when it comes to disaster recovery. On Friday last week I travelled to Normanton and Burketown, Gulf of Carpentaria communities, and was able meet with locals and see the devastating flooding that those communities have experienced firsthand. I want to thank and acknowledge the member for Kennedy, Mr Bob Katter, for his advocacy and for joining me as we toured some of the areas of highest impact. I also thank Senator Green for her ongoing advocacy to both the federal and state governments for these communities.

I also want to thank the mayors of the Carpentaria and Burke shires, Jack Bowden and Ernie Camp, as well as other members of the Burke Shire Council, who gave me a tour of some of the damage in the community. In addition, I'll be meeting Mr Camp and the mayor of Doomadgee council, Mr Jason Ned, while they're in Canberra this week. On the same day that I visited these communities we made the Australian government disaster recovery payment available to residents in the Queensland local government areas of Boulia, Burke and Mount Isa. This is the one-off payment of $1,000 per eligible adult and $400 per eligible child, for those who have suffered a significant loss as a result of the floods, including through a severely damaged or destroyed home or a serious injury.

Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How long did it take?

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

Don't worry, Senator McDonald, we'll come to you. We also activated the disaster recovery allowance for the same areas and extended it to the local government areas of Carpentaria, Cloncurry, Doomadgee and Mornington. This is in recognition of the fact that this event has caused significant disruption to people's livelihoods. The disaster recovery allowance provides up to 13 weeks of federal income support to assist people who experience a loss of income as a direct result of a major disaster, such as being cut off from getting to their workplace or the business that they operate. There are many such people in our gulf communities right now.

I can inform the Senate that, as of midnight on Monday this week, 1,300 people had received nearly $1 million in payments since claims opened on Friday just last week. That followed other support that began within 24 hours of the floods— (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Sheldon, a first supplementary?

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister, for those actions at this very important time. What is the Albanese government doing to ensure that Australians are better prepared for the more intense and more frequent natural disasters we will be facing due to climate change?

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

As we have now demonstrated on numerous occasions in all parts of this country, no matter what state or territory you live in, no matter whether you live in a safe or a marginal seat and no matter who represents you in parliament, when a disaster strikes somewhere in Australia the Albanese government will stand by your side. That's why we always move quickly to offer immediate assistance, whether that be financial or logistical, in conjunction with state and territory governments as well as with the ADF. We don't pick fights with state governments, as those opposite continue to do even in opposition. We just get on with the job, cooperating with people regardless of their political colour to deliver the support that's needed.

In addition to that immediate help, the Albanese Labor government is also working proactively to fix the failure to prepare that we witnessed over the past decade. I noticed Senator McDonald complaining last night and in the media about the exposure that remote communities have to disasters. What a shame she didn't do a single thing about that in any of the years she was in government. We have got on with the job. We are creating a disaster ready fund— (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Sheldon, a second supplementary?

Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are there any threats to the Albanese government's work to better prepare Australians for natural disasters?

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

The fact is that for nearly a decade the coalition failed to make our country more resilient to the impact of natural disasters, mainly because they didn't believe in climate change. Not only did they not spend a single dollar of their Emergency Response Fund, which was designed specifically to invest in disaster resilience; they also failed to guarantee the ongoing funding of our national natural disaster agencies beyond 1 July this year. This is another one of these temporary measures that Senator Gallagher is having to work her way through in the budget, with funding that was due to run out on 30 June this year. That included the natural disaster management agencies of the federal government. If the coalition had won the election our national natural disaster agencies would have run out of money on 30 June this year and, as things currently stand, the new National Emergency Management Agency requires an injection of new funding simply to continue operating. These are the kinds of economic vandals these people are. (Time expired)

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After that terrific answer, Madam President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.