GOVERNMENT FUMBLES COMPOUND FLOOD DEVASTATION
Shadow Minister for Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald, has urged the Federal and State Governments to drastically scale up disaster relief arrangements in Burketown and other parts of Queensland’s Gulf Country experiencing devastating floods.
Senator McDonald was scathing in her assessment of the Government’s response, saying that cattle feed needed to be dropped today (Tuesday) so graziers could transport it to stock.
“There is a very small window available to get fodder to these Outback stations. I’ve spoken with the Federal Emergency Management Minister and urged him to get the Army involved today (Tuesday).
“We need Chinook helicopters dropping fodder, and if the Army is to be deployed, we need mechanics to help restore power from farm generators and diesel fitters to get farm vehicles going again, both of which have been underwater.
“There aren’t enough services in the North West for this to happen using local businesses alone.”
Shadow Emergency Management Minister, Senator Perin Davey agreed noting that in Opposition, Labor were very quick to point out the fact volunteers were using their own boats to evacuate people in Lismore, but we’ve had helicopter mustering contractors doing exactly the same thing in Burketown and we’ve heard nothing of substance from the State and Federal Governments.
“In 2019, the Coalition Government quickly declared a disaster, authorising non-means tested payments of $1000 per adult and $400 per child. We didn’t need to wait for the State Government and had the fastest rollout of disaster recovery payments through Centrelink that we’d ever seen.
“Further, we allocated $3.1 billion over five years for replenishing stock, repairing farm infrastructure, boosting mental health services, fixing roads and making them more resilient, to name just a few,” Senator Davey said.
Senator McDonald said she had received feedback from Burketown about government bodies rejecting disaster payment claims because people’s rural addresses were not in a standard city format.
“I would have thought the experience in the 2019 North Queensland floods would mean all these problems would be ironed out, but people are still being denied service simply because they live in the regions,” she said.
“In 2019, the Coalition Government quickly declared a disaster, authorising non-means tested payments of $1000 per adult and $400 per child.
“All up we allocated $3.1 billion over five years for replenishing stock, repairing farm infrastructure, boosting mental health services, fixing roads and making them more resilient, to name just a few.
“In Opposition, Labor were very quick to point out the fact volunteers were using their own boats to evacuate people in Lismore, but we’ve had helicopter mustering contractors doing exactly the same thing in Burketown and we’ve heard nothing of substance from the State and Federal Governments.
“Frankly, it’s a disgrace. People have been evacuated, there’s an estimated $50 million in damage – that we know of – and there are sewage treatment outages that could have impacts for weeks.
“Graziers are reportedly wading into paddocks to cut fences so stock can swim to higher ground, roads have been cut due to the wet since early January and will be unusable for who knows how long.
“This means seasonal workers and those who would have expected to return to work in March remain unable to work.
“The full scale of this disaster is yet to play out so we need proactive help right now.
“People in the Gulf are telling me ‘cattle don’t vote’ so they don’t expect much help but I’m sure the Premier, Prime Minister and Ministers will announce more urgent measures soon.”