Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member from Solomon for the work he has put into preparing his community against Tropical Cyclone Fina. Communities in the Northern Territory are well-placed for Tropical Cyclone Fina, which tracked through the Van Diemen Gulf and past Darwin and the Tiwi Islands over the weekend as a category 3 system. I recognise the member for Solomon, the member for Lingiari and the Minister for Indigenous Australians in the other place for their work in providing timely updates and support for their communities. I also acknowledge the hard work of the Northern Territory government, the Bureau of Meteorology, the Australian Defence Forces and our embedded officials from the National Emergency Management Agency who worked so well together to keep local community safe.

I was able to visit the Northern Territory yesterday. I joined the chief minister to announce that the Albanese and Finocchiaro governments have activated our disaster recovery funding arrangements in several local government areas. This will ensure immediate relief is provided to individuals and families who have been displaced during the event. It will also support temporary repairs to public infrastructure and long-term reconstruction of damaged roads, bridges and public infrastructure. While I was in Darwin, I had the opportunity to visit the emergency control centre to personally thank those who worked so hard during the event to prepare local communities. Emergency service workers and power and water teams have done an outstanding job and continue to do so as recovery is underway.

I also joined the member for Lingiari, the Minister for Indigenous Australians and the chief minister to assess the damage in Wurrumiyanga in the Tiwi Islands. This was one of the areas hardest hit, with downed trees and power lines, as a result of the cyclone. The community there was in good spirits, and it was good to hear from them first and about their experience. The Albanese government, the NT government, local councils and the community will continue to work together as we enter the recovery phase. We're keeping a close watch on Tropical Cyclone Fina, which has been downgraded to a category 1 as it passes across the Kimberley.

I'm proud to be part of a government that is improving how we prepare for each high-risk weather season. We take our responsibilities seriously. Our preparedness activities include how we collaborate with state and territory governments to deliver, most importantly, our $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund to look at how we reduce disaster risk in communities. So far more than $600 million has been committed to 446 projects, with round 3 announced just last week. Round 3 runs a range of projects from cyclone shelters on Palm Island to an emergency coordination facility in Alice Springs. We're investing in our national aerial firefighting fleet's multihazard capability, and we're continuing to expand the national emergency stockpile to ensure specialist equipment can be rapidly deployed, just like it was to the NT during Tropical Cyclone Fina. Building national preparedness in the face of increasing disasters and responding to events like Tropical Cyclone Fina is a priority of this Labor government and will continue to be.

See this speech in context