Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management. Will the minister outline to the House what action the Morrison-McCormack government is taking to ensure Australians remain safe, secure and resilient from natural disasters, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19?

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. It's important to understand that, despite the fact that it's a mere matter of months since the last fire was extinguished in this year's 'black summer', we're now already in the midst of a new bushfire season. In fact, in my own electorate, in the last couple of weeks, a bushfire started in a little town called Nanango. There have been fires on the New South Wales-Queensland border. And today I inform the House that there has been a catastrophic fire warning issued for parts of the Northern Territory. The fire commissioners and the emergency services commissioners from around the country have planned meticulously for this, and we are working collaboratively with them for any assistance that the federal government may need to provide not only for this event but also for those throughout this severe weather season.

The Prime Minister and I have been briefed not only by Emergency Management Australia, the Defence Force and Services Australia but also by the Bureau of Meteorology. While the bureau are saying we are returning to normal bushfire conditions on most of the east coast of Australia, they still have concerns about Western Australia and, in fact, they are concerned about grassfires on the outskirts of Canberra, here, and Melbourne. But what they are also very concerned about now is the 70 per cent chance of a severe La Nina event forming, and what that brings is more severe and more frequent cyclones, and it will also mean greater flooding. So it's important that we understand that this changing threat is going from bushfires to now cyclones and rain. They are also giving warnings around prolonged heatwaves, rather than spikes in heatwaves, which means that we are working with state officials to make sure that we are pre-empting this natural disaster as well as working with state health agencies to make sure that the most vulnerable are also protected as we get into the warmer months.

But it is important to understand that this year there is another layer of complexity: COVID-19. COVID-19 means that the states and the federal government are working together to make sure we have COVID-19 plans so that emergency services personnel are able to get on a swift riverboat and save people in a safe way, and also so we can move emergency services personnel from one state to another. We have a nationally coordinated approach to natural disasters, but we need to do that in a safe way.

The federal government has put nearly $26 million into a fleet of 150 aircraft for firefighting, to make sure that they are there, prepared and ready to go. We're also looking to the future. We've invested $88 million in research on preparedness for future disasters to make sure Australians stay safe. While all efforts are being made by state and federal governments, each and every one of us is beholden to our emergency services personnel, and we have a responsibility to them to have a plan and to act on it when we are asked, and to look after one another through whatever the environment throws at us. (Time expired)