Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Over the weekend the New South Wales Premier said South Coast communities were still struggling with bushfire recovery and admitted his government could have done better. Will the Prime Minister also admit he failed my community by failing to deliver the support he promised?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) | Link to this | Hansard source

It was the most testing of times for the communities of the South Coast and many other communities around the country, whether it was up on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales and further north, where I also went with the New South Wales Premier at the time. It was also a time of considerable stress for those up in Queensland when, in September 2019, Jenny and I visited those communities and sat and listened to them and heard about the things that were needed. That's why, in early 2020, we put in place the actions which were coordinated through a coordinator-general involving some $2 billion worth of support to aid the immediate assistance and recovery from those bushfires.

For the first time, we also had a mandatory callout of the defence forces to support Operation Bushfire Assist, something we had pre-prepared for in about October, I think, from memory, with the then Minister for Defence. A trial run was conducted, and that meant we could move to support our state governments. I thank the state governments who accepted that assistance. The Victorian government, in particular, was very appreciative of that assistance. We saw HMAS Adelaide off Mallacoota bringing so many people to safety. This was a great national crisis, particularly in the early stages of 2020, and the government responded with clear funding commitments and clear commitments to get that onto the ground, but also with an open mind.

That's where I share the views of the now NSW Premier, and that's why I thank the former state member for Bega and the Liberal candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance. People will recall that at that time the then member for Bega and state minister was very upset with the government, and he said some very direct things to me. I'm glad he did because he was instrumental in assisting the government with tailoring our assistance and making sure that the old rules, which weren't working fast enough for those communities, were changed. It was my view at the time that we needed to change it, and it was the Liberal member for Bega, Andrew Constance, who brought that to the government and worked closely with the government, despite his strong views. And I thank the Liberal candidate for Gilmore now for that.

Andrew Wallace (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minster will resume his seat. Manager of Opposition Business, the Prime Minister has concluded his answer.