David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mayo not only for her support for her community and for her leadership in making sure that the impacts of the devastation that I saw firsthand with her are understood; I also thank her now in the recovery phase. It's important, as the government has said from the start, that this has to be a locally led recovery—not Canberra led.

We work with our disaster recovery payments with the states, who make those assessments. We're working with the South Australia government now with respect to Mount Barker. Let me make it clear that what I saw there was truly devastating, and the Australian government is working as quickly as we can. After meeting with the council and you, under your leadership we are working through that list as quickly as we can to make sure the category C application is strengthened from the South Australian government and the finalisation of that is complete. Then, obviously, category D will be on top of that. In fact, as early as today Andrew Colvin, who is running the National Bushfire Recovery Agency, is on a plane to go and sit with the Mount Barker council. He will sit down and engage with them, along with other councils in South Australia, to make sure that we coordinate this approach as quickly as we can—so that the assessments are made as quickly as the South Australian government possibly can, we get it right and there aren't any gaps in this. So it's important that we get that announcement out imminently to those people in Mount Barker and other shires, as quickly as we possibly can, as that assessment's made in South Australia.

Can I thank the member for Mayo and her office, and even her mother, for the hospitality I was awarded in Mayo. I can say with great authority that her mother's mulberry jam is the some of the best I have ever tasted!

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