JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN

 
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
WEEKEND TODAY
SUNDAY, 6 MARCH 2022

SUBJECTS: Floods in South East Queensland and New South Wales, Scott Morrison’s unused $4.8 billion Emergency Response Fund that could have built flood mitigation projects, Labor’s Disaster Ready Fund to invest in disaster readiness.
 
JAYNE AZZOPARDI, HOST: Now on that emergency there's growing anger over the government's response or as some see it a lack of response to communities that are still reeling. Joining me now for more is the Minister for Emergency Management, Senator Bridget McKenzie in Lismore and Shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers who's in Brisbane. Good morning to you both. Senator McKenzie, I'm sure if you're on the ground in Lismore, you're hearing from residents, some of them are angry and they say they feel like they've been abandoned. Have they?
 
BRIDGET MCKENZIE, NATIONALS SENATOR: Jane I've just arrived in Lismore and the scenes here absolutely devastating. It is like a war zone. As we discussed last week, this has been a devastating and truly unprecedented event. 16 Australians have lost their lives. Yesterday, I was in Gympie, looking at the cleanup and the beginnings of recovery effort and today I'll be meeting with local residents and agricultural experts here in Lismore. In terms of support, both the Queensland Government, the New South Wales government and the Federal Government have acted swiftly since this disaster began a little over a week ago. We've had $100 million dollars out the door on individual payments alone since Monday. And we've just been able to announce with the Queensland Government the next tranche of support for small businesses and primary producers. This is a devastating occurrence and it's going to take years to recover from. The federal government has also been by able stand up ADF personnel really quickly. Today, we're going to have 950 ADF personnel arrive here in the Northern Rivers to assist with the cleanup and recovery effort and we know how fabulous they've been rescuing over 130 Australians in a little over 64 missions, I think in the recent days.
 
AZZOPARDI So are you satisfied with how it's been handled so far? Or do you think there there's there could be more support to come?
 
MCKENZIE: Jane as I've said continually, this is an unprecedented event. Our disaster response in this country has been developed with states over long period of time, so that when the immediate disaster occurs, like the last week, we get those very swift physical and financial payments out for people who are right in the middle of an emergency. That's what we did. Then as the waters recede in the case of a flooding event. We have more long term cleanup support for small businesses and primary producers. As I stand here today, in Lismore, I know this is going to cost billions of dollars. I know the Premier of New South Wales knows that too. So we're going to stand with communities, right through this long recovery. What I heard yesterday in Gympie, from the Chamber of Commerce, as we walked past shops, and floods are no surprise in the Gympie Main Street for many of those small businesses, but again, this was at unprecedented levels. They were still gerni-ing out their shop fronts, but the one thing they spoke to me about was, yes, the immediate support have been really welcomed, that we've delivered the last week, but looking at that long term mental health support. Because once the adrenaline ends, and the tills are open, the shops are open that's when people can hit a brick wall. We need to make sure we've got a whole raft of supports for years to come, not just financial.
 
AZZOPARDI: Jim will go to you. We know that your community was one of those hit in South East Queensland. We heard earlier on the show that 90 per cent of the government's disaster spending is spent on response and recovery and just 3 per cent is spent on preparing for events like this. Do you think we've got it the wrong way around?
 
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: I do, Jane. I think that's one of the things that's making people so angry, we had this big multibillion dollar fund announced that the government hasn't built any projects from and we've been saying for some time, certainly well before these most recent floods, that it would make more sense to spend up to $200 million a year on flood mitigation, on flood readiness, cyclone readiness and bushfire readiness. The government's failure to do that has made communities like this one, like the one that Bridget's in and around Australia more vulnerable than they need to be. 
 
Australians have been there for each other during these most recent floods, and it's not too much to ask that the federal government is there for them as well. 
 
There's a lot of frustration, particularly in Lismore, but elsewhere as well, about proving eligibility for payments, about the failures on the emergency fund, and the fact that the head of the emergency fund has been bagging the victims of these most recent natural disasters. That's the bad news. 
 
The good news is that communities have responded. I'm here in Logan City. Bunnings has put on a barbecue. Logan Brothers Rugby League club is providing the muscle. We've got a working bee to clean up these apartments that actually went under twice in the last week and a half, two Fridays ago and last weekend. So the community has come together. They've been there for each other. We just want the federal government to be there for them too.
 
AZZOPARDI: Is that then an election promise Jim? That more money will be spent on mitigation efforts.
 
CHALMERS: It is Jane. We made our policy very clear. Anthony Albanese was here with Murray Watt at the start of the year before these floods and said it would make much more sense to get this emergency fund money out the door, and to spend it on mitigation ahead of disasters. Whether it's cyclone shelters or flood levees, or other necessary infrastructure that would protect our communities and take some of the edge of some of these horrific natural disasters. It's only common sense that we should be getting in ahead of these disasters. The fund was announced three disaster seasons ago, and the government still hasn't done anything with that money. It's been building up interest for the government's bottom line and that leaves communities like this one more vulnerable than it needs to be. 
 
AZZOPARDI: Bridget should you be spending more of that money? Will you be spending it?
 
MCKENZIE: I just want to correct some of the facts that were incorrect in Jim's response to you. I have as Emergency Management Minister been saying since I took this portfolio that we spend in this country 97 per cent of our funding in the immediate response and only 3 per cent post into the resilience and building further resilience for the next natural disaster. I said it on this show last week. So that's why we have actually set up a fund to do that. We've put over $150 million on the table for states in the last three years for exactly those sorts of projects. We've got 22 projects identified by states two years ago, that are flood mitigation projects, and they're in the planning stages. We've given them the $50 million to get on with it. So the thing is the money is going there and politicising things when people are incredibly vulnerable right now, and state and federal government are standing up all of the suite of supports for them is just the worst kind of politics. So to suggest that the Queensland Labor Government and the Coalition government in New South Wales and the federal government are not doing everything they can to support Australians at this time just isn't the case. We're going to be there for the long haul that this disaster will require us to be.
 
AZZOPARDI: That is that is good to hear. I'm sorry. We have to leave it there both of you. You've got communities to speak to today. So good luck to you all.
 
ENDS