Tom French (Moore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Emergency Management. How has the Albanese Labor government been delivering support to communities impacted by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle?

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

I thank the member for Moore. I know he's been watching the impacts of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle closely as it's impacted his home state of WA. Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle has, for the first time since 2005, impacted all three jurisdictions across the tropical north. For a number of communities, particularly Queensland and the Northern Territory, Narelle has been a very unwelcome visitor in what has been a relentless season, with repeated major floods already impacting a number of communities.

Narelle first made landfall near Coen in Queensland on the eastern side of the cape as a category 4 system, and of course that followed weeks of flooding across the north and north-west related to a monsoon trough and Ex-Tropical Cyclone Koji. It follows extensive flooding in Daly River and Katherine, which is still ongoing. Our government has worked really closely with both the Northern Territory and Queensland governments to activate disaster recovery funding arrangements really quickly to get support where it needs to go. Personal hardship payments are available in Queensland and the NT across a number of areas.

But over the weekend Western Australia felt the brunt of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle. The system made its way down the Pilbara coast, bringing wind gusts of 250 kilometres an hour and over 350 millimetres of rain in Exmouth. We know already a number of homes are without roofs in Exmouth, power is intermittent, lines are down and trees have been uprooted. The impacts to the Ningaloo Reef are also devastating. But clean up is under way and further impact assessments are being made. Learmonth airport remains restricted to emergency services only, and the ADF through RAAF Bass Learmonth is supporting those operations due to damage and debris to the civilian aerodrome.

My colleague the member for Fremantle and the Assistant Minister for Emergency Management will be on the ground today with Premier Cook. We've been working closely with the WA government as this event unfolded. I've been in contact with my WA counterpart, Minister Papalia, to offer support and assistance, and I've also been in contact with the member for Durack to offer support as well.

Today we have enacted our disaster recovery funding arrangements with the WA government to provide support to those impacted communities. The shires of Exmouth, Carnarvon and Shark Bay will be eligible for recovery assistance measures, including emergency assistance for eligible individuals and families to meet their immediate and essential needs, including to replace essential household items and to support minor repairs to their homes. Residents will also have access to wellbeing services, and we stand ready to assist further following additional impact assessments. The impacts of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle have been incredibly destructive across Australia's north and west coasts. We will continue to work closely with all state and territory governments as we move through response to the recovery phase.

And Mr Speaker, can I just add my sentiments to yours? There are some legends in the gallery today, such as Ben Tudhope, who give Australia hope on the world stage; the group at Tribe Breweries, who are a corporate company providing support to families when they need it most, and to our firefighters from Victoria first responders, who go in to assist communities when they need it most.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To associate with the minister, the member for Maranoa.

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the opposition, can I genuinely thank the minister for her efforts in coordinating across three jurisdictions, across my home state of Queensland. I know both the Queensland government and Northern Territory government, from contact I've had, genuinely appreciate your forward-leaning attitude towards making sure that the disaster has been appropriately dealt with. I know in Western Australia, from talking to the member for Durack, how quickly we were to reach out on that. And to our first responders who are here today, we should never forget that in a society where we always talk about heroes being on social media. Let me tell you, the men and women who put uniforms on and who are prepared to defend us and protect us and our hour of need are the real heroes. I thank you.