PM:Well I am here today in Kyogle with Tony Burke the Agriculture Minister and Janelle Saffin our Federal Member and we are here to talk to local people, local farmers, local business operators and local government about the impact of the recent floods in the Northern Rivers.
There's been a huge amount of damage from the floods in this Northern Rivers district and I have been talking just now to the Sneath family about the impact on their property here.
Their calculation is that they have probably got $90,000 plus worth of cost incurred through the cost of fodder for dairy cattle and some beef. On top of that, lost production - if you don't mild for a day and a half, well there is no milk being produced. And then of course there's extra losses through the loss of dairy cattle through mastitis, some of which have had to be put down.
All this adds up. I have also been talking to a local soy bean farmer and he's had a terrible time. As a share farmer having had a big impact on his property through the loss of top soil. And someone who has worked hard on the land to build that up into a decent farming business enterprise and now has a big challenge on his hands because of what's happened with these floods.
Earlier today we spoke with business operators as well about the impact which they have had and of course the capacity of different businesses to deal with these challenges varies, depending on the circumstances.
Janelle has also been telling me about the impact on local families themselves. She has told me about the flats at Kyogle and the impact on those low lying houses.
So plainly the impact on the floods in the Northern Rivers district has been significant in this district, but beyond this district as well. The reason I have come today is because Janelle has been on the blower to me about what needs to be done by way of extra assistance and there are standard assistance measures, which relate to the natural disaster arrangements which Tony Burke, the Minister, and I were discussing yesterday in Canberra - when he briefed me also on the circumstances here in the Northern Rivers district. I decided that it was good for us to come up this morning and have a look first hand at the impact and take up Janelle's suggestion that we do so as well.
From here, I am travelling to Sydney and I will be having a bite with Premier Morris Iemma about the particular needs here. But what I am strongly minded to do is to agree a further assistance package to assist with the particular needs which are being experienced in this area.
Assistance which also has at front and centre, the needs of local farmers. Of course, these assistance packages from natural disasters from government do not solve all of the problems. They never will. And mother-nature can be pretty cruel. But you can offer a bit more of a helping hand and that is what we intend to do.
And having said that, I think I will flip to Tony, and then ask Janelle to say on or two things as well.
TONY BURKE: The thing that's certainly clear today is the full extent of damage following floods like these isn't always evident when you are at the high watermark. And it's the ongoing problems that could be faced with soil, the ongoing problems with disease and in this case, in particular here, with mastitis, where those impacts continue to be felt.
No government programme fixes everything, but the look today is about being able to provide an extra extend of a helping hand.
It's important with any announcements that follow from this, that we don't - that nobody actually feels that they should be self assessing their damage. What's important is for people to be visiting the web page that I would recommend for people to make contact with, which is disasterassist.gov.au - and also the Australian Government Flood Assistance Hotline of 180 2 333 - in terms of making contact as the response from today follows, following the Prime Minister's meeting with the NSW Premier.
JANELLE SAFFIN: I am really pleased to have Kevin and Tony here. Throughout the floods and after the floods I have stayed in contact directly with Tony and more recently with Kevin and I said it is time to come for visit. We have got our submissions in order. I have met with all the different associations, with Norco, with the oil seed growers, cane growers, fishers. Got all that together, met with individual families. That's gone off to the state and it's time that we were given some extra assistance, that's what I have been asking for.
And we're a pretty sort of stoic lot here. We've had three natural disasters in the last few months and the floods was just the last straw. But it took us a few weeks to get all our, you know, information in order. We are now ready to go with that and Kevin has responded positively before he goes off to see the Premier today so I am delighted.
It's good that this is a flood visit. And it is a visit in Page but it's also Richmond that was affected and other areas in NSW. The farmers have really done it a bit tough - and local families. So thank you.
PM:So just before turning to your questions, I think that's put it all in a bit of context too. Here this is the biggest flood this district has seen since 1954. This is not just a bit of wet weather. This is a serious flood which has been through here. And local people haven't seen it as high, unless you were around in the ‘50s. And many lives were lost here in those floods in the ‘50s.
Its been a very big flood. The right thing to do has been to take a bit of time to make sure the assessments are done, they have been submitted properly to State Government, and then trigger mechanisms apply with what additional assistance we can provide at the national level as well.
As Janelle has rightly said, it is not just here. We've received representations also from Justine Elliot, the Federal Member for Richmond, about the impact in that part of the world. And there have been other parts of New South Wales as well.
But, government can't solve all these problems as Tony has just said, but we can lend a helping hand. That's what we propose to do. Over to you, folks.
JOURNALIST:Prime Minister you have arrived here today, and Queensland you announced funding very quickly after the floods, New South Wales, down here, it has been a month since we have had a flood, Western New South Wales, a bit longer and you come here, yet, empty handed.
PM:Well I think the important thing to do is to first of all make sure all the assessments are in. That is important. And my understanding from the New South Wales Government is that that process has just been concluded. Secondly, the reason I am here is to say that we are here to respond positively to a second level of extra assistance.
So the premise of your question actually is wrong.
JOURNALIST:What sort of role will the meeting with the Premier play today in what you can offer?
PM:Well, we've got to go to the detail of the categories of extra assistance. If you look at the structure of natural disaster recovery and relief assistance in the RRA, it falls into two levels: what's called standard assistance and then, additional assistance.
Under those additional assistance measures there are usually three categories of assistance which are possible, those which relate to farms, farmers such as those we've been meeting today. Those which relate to small businesses and those which relate to community organisations.
For example, one of the things that we probably will need to look at over time is, you had a really wet summer, and that's effected the tourism industry as well. What can we do to put a bit more backing behind tourism promotion for this part of Australia so that people know the region is back in business.
All these factors add up to the local economy. The farm economy is important small business operators are important as is the tourism sector. So we are going to look at all of those categories of possible assistance and I'll be seeking to finalise those with Morris when I catch up later today.
But pardon me for being a bit conservative about these things, I always like to come and have a look first. Having grown up on a beef and dairy farm just like this myself, I like to see what the impact has been.
JOURNALIST:Prime Minister you say you govern for all Australians yet the Queenslanders have got federal assistance before the New South Wales people. Why is it that they have received assistance so far before us?
PM:Well there are trigger mechanisms involving - for the Federal Government to assist - which involve assessments to the State Government reaching their own decision. Part of the reason for heading of to Sydney today for a meeting with Morris is to complete that process. That's what we go through, that's what we've gone through elsewhere as well. I think it's the right way to go.
Also can I just add to what Tony said, the easy thing is to rock around some place when a disaster has hit. What Tony said is absolutely right. Responsible leadership lies in coming and looking at the impact when it's no longer actually the front page of the news. Because that is when the flow through of people's costs actually occurs. That's when people are working out how they are going to have to budget for it. That's actually the responsible way to handle these things. And I keep saying, we can't solve all these financial problems, but we can lend a helping hand in the right, proper and methodical way, and these processes are about to reach their conclusion.
JOURNALIST:Can I ask Prime Minister, is there any thought of extending federal assistance to people in Western Sydney, around Blacktown, who have been without roofs for up to three months after a storm?
PM:What I'd say about the people in Blacktown, who have been through a really tough time, a really hard time, is, I think it is time for the
Interruption
JOURNALIST:Any chance of extending federal assistance to people in Western Sydney, for instance, Blacktown, who have been without roofs for up to three months after the storm?
PM:What I discovered here in discussions with Janelle is that - and what I have heard from some of our Federal representatives from Western Sydney - is that challenge number one lies with getting a proper response from the insurance companies.
Now, obviously insurance companies send out their assessors, that's the right thing to do. What I would be saying to the insurance industry across Australia - those who are insuring farmers and small business operators and others here in the Northern Rivers, together with those who are insuring those in Western Sydney - it's time to get on with it and get on with it very soon.
If you're out there in Western Sydney and you have had a tarp over your roof for quite some time now, I know it takes a while to put an assessment in, but it's time to get on with it and so I'd be appealing to the insurance industry to do the right thing by the people of Western Sydney as quickly as possible.
JOURNALIST:In Lismore, we've got houses that have had tarps on the roof for four months now from the hail storm back in October. We've got complaints coming in to our paper almost daily and I know the local MPs are getting it as well from people complaining about insurers either being tardy or spuriously rejecting claims where, for example, you will have a house that is the only house in the street where the insurer says no we are not going to replace the roof. What can be done to help those people?
PM:Well, I am always attracted to a bit of naming and shaming so when we start to get to that point, I am very keen to engage in a public debate about whether the insurance companies concerned are doing the right thing.
Let's be very blunt about this. Insurance companies operate on the basis of their own calculation of risk. That's why, overall, it has been a very profitable industry, for insurance firms for a long, long time.
But when disasters hit - whether it's in Lismore, Western Sydney or this one up here, can I say - can I say, they actually need to come to the party.
I understand the processes, just get your assessments done. And if what you say is right, people are kicking around for four months with tarps on their roofs in Lismore, I don't think that should be the right way to go.
JOURNALIST:(Inaudible) ... one waiting for three months just to get the tarp
PM:Okay. But if they have been waiting for three to four months to get assistance from an insurance company, that strikes me as unusual. I am sure the Federal Member will be looking into that for me.
JOURNALIST:Can I just quickly say the front page for the Oz today indicates this latest round of tax cuts might be the last for quite some time and a bit of a change in your policy.
PM:No. Prior to the election we committed to tax cuts flowing from the upcoming financial year. I have said repeatedly we honour the commitments we made prior to the election and we are serious about that. If you go to the people and say you are going to do something and you get elected, you have got to do it.
JOURNALIST:But I am talking beyond -
PM:Well, beyond that and including the period ahead, our number one responsibility is to fight the fight against inflation. If inflation -those pressures which have been let loose by the previous government over the last two years - if we don't act where they failed to act, then inflation becomes a real, real problem for farmers, small business operators and working families.
Our number one responsibility is to fight the fight against inflation because if you fail to dot hat effectively, the impact on people's lives, their livelihood, their mortgage interest payments as well as the costs of doing business just goes through the roof.
Therefore, the economically conservative and responsible thing to do is to place the war against inflation number one. That's the speech I delivered at the very beginning of this year on our five point plan of attack on inflation. We intend to proceed with that. It's the right course of action for the nation.
JOURNALIST:Anything to say about bank behaviour this week?
PM:Oh, I think Wayne Swan got it absolutely right in his response to what the Commonwealth Bank did the other day. I don't think it was the right thing to do at all.
JOURNALIST:The people of the Central West and Riverina have over one hundred million dollars worth of damage there, any time soon will you be visiting them and then offering them some kind of help?
PM:I think someone from the Government will be there before long. I am acutely conscious of the reports I have received for what's happened elsewhere in the country. But we are a Government for all Australians. I don't care which way people vote. If natural disasters hit, our responsibility is to do the right and decent thing wherever they come from. And it will be assessed against the normal criteria of the effect on people's lives, livelihoods and the rest and then we will act.
Tony Burke has been active through his state counterparts and farm organisations across the country, keeping a close eye on this. And we intend, as I said, to be extending a helping hand.
It won't solve all problems. We can't fix natural disasters but you can, at the level of Government, offer that helping hand of assistance when it is needed.
I think I have got to go now. Thank you.