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

My question is to the Minister for Emergency Management, Senator Watt. I know the minister was in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales last week, only months on from the floods that devastated this area. How is the Albanese government continuing to support communities with their ongoing recovery, and what is being done to mitigate the impact of future flood events in this area?

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

Thanks, Senator Sheldon. I know Senator Sheldon only recently visited a number flood affected regions in his capacity as special envoy for disaster recovery. It is now nearly 18 months since those dreadful floods hit the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Inevitably, a disaster of this scale will take a long recovery time.

But the Albanese government is standing with the communities affected as they continue to recover, and that won't change. The Albanese government has made $1.6 billion in payments directly to individuals and families impacted by the February flood event last year in New South Wales. That is in addition to the jointly funded disaster recovery funding arrangements which have seen the Albanese government and the New South Wales government invest about $1.2 billion in the Northern Rivers for a series of home buybacks, road upgrades, grants for farmers and businesses, accommodation packages and other support for councils, home repairs, concessional loans and freight subsidies.

On Friday last week, I visited the Northern Rivers once again. Just outside Coraki, I was joined by mayors Robert Mustow from Richmond Valley, Sharon Cadwallader from Ballina and Chris Cherry from Tweed to announce tranche 2 of the Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program. It is important that, while we continue to aid the region's recovery, we also put measures in place to prevent these events creating such devastation in the future. So, on Friday, another 20 projects worth $100 million from the Albanese government were committed to from this fund on top of the 16 projects worth $50 million that we announced in February. These projects span every council area in the Northern Rivers and were recommended based on research by CSIRO and supported by the New South Wales government, which undertook due diligence checks. They include road and bridge raising, flood pump station upgrades and nature based mitigation strategies among other things. The Albanese government is making these investments in the Northern Rivers— (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

Minister, I note that since the floods in the Northern Rivers we have also seen major flooding events in almost every state and territory. How is the Albanese government continuing to support other communities impacted by floods?

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

Thanks, Senator Sheldon. Since October last year, we have seen flood events in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria. In the past 18 months, more than $1.8 billion in direct Commonwealth payments have been made to individuals and families impacted by natural disasters apart from those February New South Wales floods. We continue to work with the states and territories on a range of measures costing billions more to help these communities with their ongoing recovery.

As just one example—and I know that this is something that many Western Australians senators are familiar with—in the Kimberley region work is progressing on rebuilding the Fitzroy River Bridge, and we are working alongside the Cook government to deliver over $100 million to repair flood impacted homes, public housing and roads. The package also provides support for temporary accommodation for people who are displaced and accommodation facilities for people who are undertaking community recovery and clean-up. We'll keep working with these communities to ensure they get what they need. (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

As we move from three years of successive La Nina events to a possible El Nino, what is the Albanese government going to do to prepare for a change in conditions with this high-risk weather season coming upon us?

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

Thanks, again, Senator Sheldon. While we continue to support communities that are recovering from last year's floods, we're also planning for the first significant fire season since 2019-20. We certainly don't want to see a repeat of Black Summer, when the then coalition government ignored the warnings they were given and failed to prepare. We know that multiple years of rainfall has created significant vegetation growth ahead of what looks to be a dry, hot summer. It's a reminder that we all need to be doing bushfire prep at home and keeping an eye on fire danger ratings and fire bans.

Through the Albanese government's new Disaster Ready Fund, we are co-investing $95 million in bushfire mitigation and resilience projects across the country. The Albanese government is also convening a National Emergency Management Ministers Meeting at the end of the month to ensure that all levels of government are fully prepared for the coming fire season. We are working with commissioners and chief officers to understand fire risks for the coming season and ensure that resource arrangements, including aerial firefighting assets, are in place. We will be prepared. (Time expired)