PM: I'm here in Townsville this morning, I'm here with the Attorney-General Robert McClelland, I'm also here with the local Member Ewan Jones and I thank him for coming to meet with me today. Also with the Chief Superinident Michael Keating and with Brigadier Smith here in Townsville, who's leading the men that you see doing such good work in this residential aged care facility.
I want to start by offering my condolences to the family and friends of a 23 year old man who has lost his life. Tragically this morning we have confirmed the news that a young man has lost his life because he has been overcome by fumes from a generator. This reinforces the safety messages that are being put out about what people should be doing to deal with generators in the aftermath of the cyclone, and making sure that as they use generators they themselves are safe. So condolences to his family and friends, to see such a young person die like this is a real tragedy and I would say to everybody please heed the warnings that are being provided about how you can safely use generators.
Here in Townsville I have been very pleased to see the community spirit that's been brought to the fore as people got about the rebuilding. I came here to this Blue Care residential aged care facility because I knew that both the carers and the police and Army have done a remarkable job. A remarkable job in evacuating frail, aged Australians into an evacuation centre, a remarkable job in caring for them as they were in that evacuation centre during the cyclone, and now they're doing a speedy clean-up which will enable these frail Australians to come back to their home very quickly.
Already in the hours of work that have been done this morning a miracle is being worked, Sandra the leader of this residential aged-care facility is just overwhelmed by the amount that's been achieved so quickly and what all of this effort means is that some very special Australians who need our care and concern are going to be able to return to their home.
I'm very happy to take peoples' questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister how many troops have you got on the ground in Queensland?
PM: Well here in the region there are 4000 troops in total, we are here in Townsville which is home to Lavarack Barracks, we have a large standing presence here in Townsville and in this region, and so those 4000 soldiers are able to assist during the cyclone recovery and they did do a lot to assist as the community prepared for the cyclone as well and I do want to thank them for their work and I thanked some of the individuals involved today.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: It's a very big deployment, in the Brisbane flooding recovery when people were battling with filth and mud we had over 1500 soldiers in Brisbane doing that work, and that was the biggest deployment for a natural disaster since cyclone Tracy. So this is a lot of boots on the ground making a real difference and as you would have seen from the times just a few minutes ago when I was talking to some of the individuals from the Army doing the work, they're doing it with a great of a spirit of enthusiasm, it's great to see.
JOURNALIST: What were your initial observations and thoughts after you touched down last night, and you've presumably had a look around this morning, what did you think of Townsville (inaudible)
PM: Last night I had the benefit of a conversation with the Chief Superintendent and with the Brigadier to get a sense of the damage here in Townsville. I have been able to have a look round this morning and experience the Townsville concerns about water and all of the things that Townsville struggled with overnight. Here there is damage that will need to be recovered from, the streets are littered with broken tress, broken branches, with things that have flown through the air because of the strength of the cyclone, so there is work to do. But I think the people of Townsville, the people of Cairns, whilst they recover themselves are very focussed on what they can all do to assist people in the devastated communities of Tully and Cardwell that have just done it so tough and that's why I'm hoping to travel through to Tully during the course of the day, to have a look.
This is a big cyclone, it's a big area, it's a lot of damage and the damage is still being created because of the floodwaters that people are now concerned about and we know that whilst the cyclone has become a tropical depression, the rain that it brings has the potential to do damage in other areas. So whilst the most frightening hours are past, people do in this period need to make sure they're listening to all of the emergency services warnings, this isn't the right time for people to let their guard down and think that it's over, people do need to keep themselves safe.
JOURNLAIST: Prime Minister are you amazed at the lack of injuries and loss of life so far?
PM: Overwhelmingly I think we should be saying to each other that courage and preparation won through with this natural disaster. Queenslanders in the north and the far north, they're very resilient people, they know that the tropics can throw a lot at them and so they were well prepared and very courageous as the cyclone hit and benefits of that preparation I think has been seen right throughout these communities and it's also been seen in the fact that the loss of life has not been higher.
JOURNALIST: Any early estimates of the damages bill (inaudible)
PM: It's still too early to tell the damages bill, I mean you can see the damage around us, what we can't do at this stage is do the testing of the damage to roads that's been caused predominately by water, by surging water and by the flooding that's come with the cyclone, so we're going to need to assess all of that and work out the damage bill.
To give people some sense though, with Cyclone Larry the Federal Government spent the best part of half a billion dollars in that recovery.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister have you got any indication on how the buildings that were built during the Building the Education Revolution program have faired the cyclone?
PM: Well I don't have any direct information, we've actually driven past some schools with BER buildings, I don't have any direct information which would suggest they've faired any differently than any other building in the area.
JOURNALIST: Will you be examining the damage on your way or will you be asking for a briefing on how those buildings-
PM: Well I'm asking for a briefing on damage generally, including to community infrastructure: schools, the infrastructure the community relies on, so there's not a particular focus on buildings that were constructed through that program, I mean school buildings are school buildings and schools need to function, and obviously we'll be working with the Queensland Government on assessments about schools and their functionality, so that's something that we'll be done as part of the general damages assessment.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister when can people start accessing the relief from the cyclone (inaudible)
PM: Thank you for that question because it does give me the opportunity to say to people we have triggered the Australian Government Disaster Relief Payment, this is the emergency $1000 that can help people get through when they're in evacuation centres, when they've lost power for a long period of time and they've got to throw out everything in the fridge and freezer and there are additional costs that they need to bear. People can access that payment by ringing 180 22 66 and our Centrelink staff will be able to discuss with them the emergency payment. Our Centrelink staff will also be able to discuss with them eligibility for our income support payment, so this is a payment which helps people if they are not able to go about their ordinary work for an extended period of time or they are not able to run their business or farm for a period of time because of natural disaster damage, and the same staff on the same number, 180 22 66, can help people.
Here in Townsville we are hoping to get the Centrelink office operation again during the course of tomorrow, so bringing it back into operation on the weekend. We have Centrelink staff who live here, who have been through the cyclone too, and we are bringing in some additional staff to work with them. Cairns Centrelink, as I'm advised, is function basically as normal, obviously there are some stresses and strains, but it's up and running, and Cairns is helping provide some support into some of the very hard hit communities but that's really early days and it's going to take us some time to get into places like Tully and Cardwell with the mobile Centrelink offices that we do have available. The task in those communities at the moment is the really direct recovery, making sure people have got food and water and shelter and those kind of things, but we're hoping to make that Centrelink support available to people fairly soon.
JOURNALIST: And will north Queenslanders be exempt from the flood levy at all?
PM: Yes they will, we will use the same eligibility for exemption that I announced when I announced the rebuilding package including the flood levy, so people who have been directly assisted and have been assisted by Government because they've been directly hit, will not need to pay the flood levy in the same way people hit by flooding don't have to pay the levy.
JOURNALIST: And you won't increase that either to pay for the damages here?
PM: No we won't, the package I announced last week, the $5.6 billion, that package, including the levy, will stay and it will be for flood recovery. We will need to find additional resources in the Federal Government's budget to meet the needs of recovering from this cyclone and so we will have to make some very tough decisions to make money available, there will inevitably be some budget cuts that people won't necessarily like the look of, but we will do that in order to make sure that we've got the resources available to rebuild in north and far north Queensland. We will rebuild from the floods, we have to rebuild here too, we'll do both.
Thank you very much.