Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) | Hansard source

Senator Watt will be amazed to hear me in agreement with him on the terrible catastrophe that has been the flooding in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. You will find no argument from anybody in this place about what has happened, particularly in Lismore, which has been described as being as if a tsunami had been through there. There are townships where there is still no power and where businesses are boarded up because it will not be possible to repair them for months. Who knows how long that process will take as business owners decide what situation they're in and what position they will take? There are still thousands of people displaced from their homes. As the rain falls now, what a worrying situation that is for them. However, to say that the government has been absent and to try and link this to other political agendas is devastating. On top of the natural disaster, to then have their issues politicised in this way is incredibly unfortunate. I have seen so many of our ministers and other government members show their support, both physically and in any other way that they can.

I applaud Senator Watt's decision to go to Lismore, because that is the sort of help that Australians give to each other and the community. As the floodwaters rose, there was no way for government officials, the NBN or anybody else to enter that region, because the roads were cut and the weather was so heavy. LifeFlight from Queensland had the only helicopter with suitable infrared detection to be able to detect people in roof spaces and pluck people off roofs. This is the sort of equipment that was required in that time, and my sincere thanks go to the members of LifeFlight who had to oversee that particular mission. Members of the community—people who had jet-skis and kayaks or other boats—turned to help their neighbours, as Australians do in the immediate aftermath or during a disaster. I think we should be acknowledging that community help and what happened in the days afterwards.

I know government services who spent days in motels just trying to be able to get physical access to some of these regions. The Army, who were on the ground, didn't have the benefit of some of the organisation they might have had from, say, the Brisbane City Council, which was able to mobilise hundreds of workers to get out, take photos and document the places where the Army needed to be. Remember that in Lismore the council workers had lost their homes. There was not a connection of resources and support as there was in Brisbane, where a portion of the town had been flooded. All of Lismore had been flooded, and to say that the government's response was not adequate absolutely does not understand that. The Prime Minister, in the weeks following, had COVID. The opposition leader had gone to Western Australia. But the community kept going and government services poured in. As part of that flood response and recovery, there has been hundreds of millions of dollars in support, including financial support and support from the Army. Nearly a billion dollars in services has gone into that region in clean-ups and pick-ups.

This is a one-in-500-year disaster. The local member, Kevin Hogan, the member for Page, has lived through the trauma of his family and friends as well as the people who live in his community being without a home and without a business, yet those on the other side seek to make this a political issue rather than do what Australians do best: pull together, support those people and drive additional resources as they are identified. We should be thinking more about the people who are in such desperate circumstances and how we can assist, rather than seeking to criticise.