David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed, as the shadow minister for tourism indicates, we will all step forward and make contributions to assist those in New Zealand as well. I think it is beyond contention that we as a people are generous in our private donations, but, whichever way you look at it, the total amount of donations that has been raised through the Queensland Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal is somewhere in the order of $200 million. Those moneys will be applied to certain purposes, but that amount falls significantly short of the overall rebuilding cost. We can think about it in these terms: $5.6 billion is almost 30 times the amount donated through the relief appeal. We welcome the donations and thank everyone who has dug deep to assist those in the areas affected by the natural disasters, but as a government we have to find the funds to do what every Australian should expect—that, if they were in a similar situation, the government would step in and ensure that that rebuilding effort was facilitated.

In raising these funds, most of the discussion has centred on the flood levy. I have to say that I am surprised that the opposition has gone down the path of opposing this levy.

See this speech in context