HOST: Prime Minister good morning.
PM: Good morning.
HOST: What are you expecting when you arrive in the far north?
PM: Well I'm here in Townsville now, so in the north, as I get to the far north I'm expecting to see more and more devastation and I wanted to come up so that I could talk to people about their experiences, I mean people have been through such a frightening time and I did want to talk to people about what recovery is going to mean.
We've already made some emergency payments available, that's the emergency money that can help people in evacuation centres, people who have lost their homes who have been without power for a long period of time, so we have already started that process of emergency assistance, but I wanted to see the damage for myself and talk to people about the recovery and rebuilding we'll need to do together.
HOST: Prime Minister how can people access that emergency assistance and where?
PM: The best thing is at the moment people can ring a hotline number, it's 180 22 66, so they can ring that from wherever they are. In terms of our Centrelink services, Cairns Centrelink is operational, in Townsville we are hoping that the Centrelink office will be back in operation on the weekend and we're bringing some additional people in to assist with that and we are hoping too that we'd be able to make mobile services available to the really, really hard hit communities like Tully and Cardwell, and I do want to thank our Centrelink staff in Cairns who are doing a lot of work to run services beyond Cairns and to help people out.
HOST: Prime Minister as you know many people have lost their homes, their businesses, what else can the Government, can you do, to help these people?
PM: Well what we can do is working with people in the rebuilding of businesses and for primary producers. Our natural disaster assistance does help people in the immediate time of the emergency with the cash payments, but we also help people with assistance when they've lost homes, when they need to get their business back on its feet, when they need to get their primary production back up and happening; exotic fruits, bananas, all of that we know how much damage has been done from the pictures we've seen on our TV screens and the reports of local farmers. So we can do all of that and then we need to work to rebuild critical infrastructure.
HOST: As you would be aware banana farmers have been particularly hard hit by this, I think 75 per cent of production of bananas is between Cairns and Cardwell, it has been pretty much wiped out. Now banana growers have been calling, or urging the Federal Government this morning to provide wage assistance like the Government did after Cyclone Larry, is that something that will happen?
PM: As a result of bringing the emergency Australian Government Disaster Relief payments on stream, we've also triggered an income support payment which can help people when they can't go about their ordinary job and that might be people who work in the banana growing industry or the exotic fruits industry, and it can also help the business owner when they can't go about their ordinary work and can't get their ordinary income. So that's in place already and that number: 180 22 66 can give people details of those kind of payments.
Then we will have to consult and work with communities as to what else needs to be done. We're still in the hours where danger is present, with flooding in so many areas and where our focus has been on getting the Army there, working with the Queensland Emergency Services personnel to meet people's basic needs for food and water and shelter and make sure we know where everybody and make sure people who might need medical assistance are getting that assistance. So that's the sort of immediate phase of the response, and then we will have to keep consulting and working with people as we design the best package for the rebuilding in addition to all of the payments we've already triggered.
HOST: That number again if you do need assistance: 180 22 66, 180 22 66. Prime Minister is it too early to look at the lessons that have been learnt or need to be learnt from this disaster?
PM: I think we will be thinking about those lessons, I suspect for people who are still shell-shocked in communities looking at what used to be their home, it's too early for that, but for some parts that are already looking at the recovery, people will already be reflecting on the lesson to be learned, and that will be part of what we need to discuss in the weeks and months to come, but as I say I guess as Prime Minister at the moment, my focus has been on the things we need to do right now to make sure people are safe and to get them the things that just sustain human life; water, food, shelter, medical assistance if they need it. We've got 4000 soldiers in the region so they'll make a powerful difference, and I did also want to make sure we were triggering those first rounds of emergency payments to help get people through.
HOST: And in the longer term, we've had the flood levy of course, will that be extended to cover the rebuild of places, towns in the far north?
PM: The flood levy won't be changed, it will be in the size and shape that I announced and that means it's a levy that we're asking Australians to pay, the vast majority of Australians will pay less than $1 a week, but it will help collect $1.8 billion that can be used for rebuilding. I do want to be clear about this, I announced a $5.6 billion package for flood rebuilding and we will use that package for flood rebuilding, we are now going to have to find additional resources to meet the needs of rebuilding from the cyclone. So we won't be taking money away which otherwise would have been used for flood rebuilding, we'll have to find further cuts in the Federal budget to fund the extra amount of money that's now required to get us back from the cyclone.
HOST: I'm speaking with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, that number again for assistance 180 22 66. Prime Minister I just wanted to raise with you the role of airlines in all of this, we've had reports of pricing the day before the cyclone, people were desperate to get out of the far north, and fares from Cairns to Brisbane were starting at $1500 one way, and also airlines were allowing people to get on flights from elsewhere to fly in to Cairns and these poor people arriving to be told that there was cyclone on the way and having to get on planes and go back.
PM: Look I have heard some of those reports, I haven't had an opportunity yet to get it all checked and to make sure that I understand everything that went on here, but I'll certainly have a look at all of that.
On airlines I do just want to note we have had some good news and good assistance from Qantas in getting people out of Egypt, so this week they have been helping Australians in a difficult circumstance overseas, but there is obviously a problem here that people are raising and I'll have a long hard look at it, but I haven't had an opportunity to do that yet.
HOST: And Prime Minister I guess people just want to know that the Government can guarantee that people will be helped to get back on their feet, to rebuild their homes and their businesses?
PM: Well we will be working with the Queensland Government and with your local councils to rebuild. We've brought, everyday of this unfolding crisis in Queensland, the flood crisis and now the cyclone, every day we've brought a spirit of working together with the Queensland Government, to get communities through and then to rebuild.
As a Federal Government we particularly focus on rebuilding the critical infrastructure, the roads, the rail, the ports, the things that mean communities can run, farmers can get their product to market, all of that kind of absolutely vital infrastructure, and we focus on a helping hand for individuals, families, small business and primary producers and I can say to everyone listening, and I'm sure people have been clutching their radios close during the hours of the cyclone and beyond, I can say to everyone listening we will be doing what we need to rebuild here.
HOST: Prime Minister I do appreciate your time, thank you.
PM: Thank you.