Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, I spent several days travelling through cyclone-ravaged parts of the Capricorn Coast in Central Queensland. Primary producers and small businesses are hurting badly. There is still much to be done in the wake of Cyclone Marcia. Last week, the Prime Minister signed off on additional disaster assistance for primary producers under category C disaster arrangements. Eligible primary producers in the Livingstone, Banana and Rockhampton shires can now access grants of up to $25,000 to assist with recovery. Category C will be administered by the Queensland state government under the joint Commonwealth-state Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, known as NDRRA. Eligible primary producers should contact the Queensland Rural Adjustment Authority. The hotline number is 1800623946. You can visit online at qraa.qld.gov.au.

We also urgently need category C to be applied to small businesses as well. Once the Queensland Premier has submitted the necessary documents to Canberra, I would expect a category C rating to also soon apply to small business owners. I believe that some parts of Livingstone Shire require a further category D rating, but nothing can be fought on this rating into the Queensland Premier first makes a submission.