Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Youth) | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about two issues that are incredibly important to my community on the Gold Coast: disaster recovery funding and the completion of Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3. They are very different issues, but they have something in common. They both ensure that communities that I represent have the infrastructure and the support they certainly need to grow to withstand the challenges ahead and have that certainty about what is in the future.

As a Gold Coast representative, I know just how exposed our community is to natural disasters.

I will get back to the light rail stage 3, the member for Riverina. We have seen the devastating impact of cyclones, severe storms, flooding and other natural disasters on families and on businesses and the toll that it takes on local infrastructure and, of course, our economy. When disaster strikes, people don't care which level of government is responsible for what. They just want help and they expect governments of all levels to work together to help them get back on their feet. That is why I am so bitterly and deeply disappointed and concerned about the Albanese government's proposed changes to the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. The current arrangements provide an important safety net for communities like mine when recovering from those disasters. Any reform should strengthen that safety net not weaken it.

The Albanese government proposes a new fifty-fifty Commonwealth-state cost-sharing model, despite significant concerns from Queensland and other jurisdictions. Labor cannot simply shift more of the costs onto state governments, local councils like the Gold Coast City Council and, ultimately, local ratepayers and call that reform. The coalition has been clear: Canberra must step up when Australians are facing the consequences of natural disasters. The government has sought to justify its proposal by pointing to the Colvin review, yet nowhere in that review did it recommend a blanket fifty-fifty funding split. It did, however, call for improved cost-sharing arrangements that recognise the different capacities and circumstances of each state and each territory. The government sat on this review for over a year only to ignore recommendations and push ahead with their own agenda. Not good enough.

I stand here tonight with my colleague the member for Riverina, and when he was the Deputy Prime Minister of our great country—

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