PM: It's an absolute privilege to be here today with Premier Anna Bligh and with local mayor Steve Jones.We're here for a day of remembrance but also a day of resolve where this local community is coming together to remember what happened 12 months ago, but also to show a spirit of unity as this community works its way into the future and into 2012.
I remember coming here and meeting with Anna and Steve within days of these devastating events. I remember seeing community members sheltered under Grantham State School, the shock still well and truly written on their faces. People just didn't know at that stage how many people had lived and how many had died, but even then I saw courage and determination to rebuild for the future.
I remember going to an evacuation centre in Helidon and listening to a small girl tell me her story of being winched off the roof, told to me just like a small child will tell you any other story about something that had happened - but she had lived through an amazing experience.
And I remember all too clearly the stories of the chopper pilots who did remarkable things in some of the worst weather they'd ever put their helicopters up into because their fellow Australians were in need.
There was plenty of sadness in those days and there's plenty of sadness still, but there was a lot of courage. As nature threw its worst at the people here, they showed their best. And that best has been on display everyday since as the people of Queensland have rebuilt after that devastating summer.
It's a real privilege to be here today to get to share in this local community's commemoration of things lost and also joint resolve for the future.
I'm glad we've been able to work with the local council, with the State Government, with the people of Queensland on rebuilding. There's much rebuilding still to do but there's a real strength and unity to do it.
I'll hand over to Premier Anna Bligh.
PREMIER BLIGH: Well thank you Prime Minister and I thank the Prime Minister of Australia for joining with myself, the Mayor of the Lockyer Valley, Steve Jones, and the people of the Lockyer Valley on this very, very important day.
12 months ago this community was devastated and today was a day when we look back and we look forward. We look back and relive some of the very painful memories and we look forward with a great sense of hope to what 2012 and the year's beyond hold for the people of the Lockyer Valley.
These devastating disasters, without doubt, were sent to test Queensland. Queensland was tested almost beyond endurance, and nowhere more than here in the Lockyer Valley with that devastating loss of life.
What we saw this morning was a community that wasn't pulled apart by these events: a community that was pulled together by them. A community that's held onto that strength and courage everyday of the last 12 months and as a result today they stand proud, they're recovering, they're rebuilding and they've got a very, very bright future and you could feel the sense of hope in people's hearts at today's event.
I congratulate the Lockyer Valley Regional Council. This was a very emotional time and very important to mark it with respect and with a dignified ceremony and they did that with great style this morning and I think it's a great credit to the Council but much more a credit to the local community.
These sorts of anniversaries are important to mark. We know that this is not over. We know the job is not yet finished, but every now and then you have to stop and look at how far you've come, and this community in the Lockyer Valley has made remarkable strides against all the odds. They fill my heart with pride and I think Australians everywhere feel a great sense of pride in what's been accomplished by the little towns in this beautiful, beautiful part of Australia.
So, congratulations to the Mayor.
We thank the Federal Government for all their financial assistance. It's been a great partnership. We simply wouldn't be standing here if we hadn't had all levels of government working together. But we wouldn't be standing here if we had hadn't had Australians from all parts of the country dig deep and donate and help us when we needed them.
What you see is a community recovering and that's happening because you helped us, so thank you, to every Australian that dug deep when we needed them.
Steve?
STEVE JONES: Thank you, Premier. Today is a very important day for the Prime Minister and Premier to be here with us in the Lockyer Valley. It's a very important day in our history and I think it's a day when it gives us an opportunity to not only stand still and think about what's happened but an opportunity to say to all Australians: ‘thank you for what you've done for us over the last 12 months.'
The level to which they've donated to us, comforted us and assisted us through all levels of support is fantastic and I think that was echoed well and truly this morning through the services we've been to so far.
The people of the Lockyer Valley are most thankful to all those people that have assisted us and at this point we see it as a great opportunity for us now, not to forget about what's happened, but to manage that and move ahead with some positives for our people and we ask the Australians to continue supporting us to move back to normality and we look forward to people living once again in the picturesque Lockyer Valley the way it was.
Thank you very much.
PM: Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what have people been telling you - their stories?
PM: I have had the opportunity at the end of the service today to talk to some people in the crowd. There are still tears in eyes and there's a lot of emotion around but people are also talking about their home being back to what it was and some looking forward to a new school year and a new year in 2012, so we've got a lot of optimism too.
We also had today, you would have seen them, the SES workers, the emergency services workers, the police, were there and I know this will be a time where they're thinking deeply about everything that they had to do and everything that they saw during those very difficult days, so we can't say thank you enough to the people who got the community through in that really, really tough period.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PM: Look, these are emotional events. I mean, I view my role here today as the nation's Prime Minister representing the views of the nation and all Australians wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people who were suffering last summer, and Steve's spoken about that, the sense of embrace that came from the rest of the country, I think that's really important and so I wanted to be here today to just hopefully, by my very presence, give that sense that the nation's still thinking about what happened here and we're still there as the rebuilding happens.
For me, I've seen some incredibly emotional things, some really hard things, some people whose emotion is just raw and at the surface and you've been there to comfort them, so it does leave a mark on you. It certainly does. And that mark will be there for the rest of my life and I'm sure Premier Bligh who was so directly leading this State during these difficult days, it'll be there for her too.
JOURNALIST: Were you tempted to keep the flag, Prime Minister?
PM: Well, when I first got it, when the helicopter pilots first gave it to me, and it was just sodden wet and muddy I remember thinking to myself then that this is something incredibly precious and special, and so I took it back to Canberra not quite knowing then what I would do with it, but knowing that it represented a spirit of bravery and a spirit of Australia and so we let it dry very carefully and then after we did the condolences in Parliament I knew the right thing was to give it to Steve so it could always be here in this community.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
STEVE JONES: Yes, it's in the Cultural Centre in a key position.
PM: Yes, I couldn't be here for when it was first raised here locally, but I remember giving it to Steve when he was there at a local government conference, but also very focused on talking directly to us about what needed to be done to rebuild here.
JOURNALIST: Has the help that you've been able to give come to an end yet?
PM: The help is still rolling out. In terms of rebuilding it's a more than $5 billion commitment. We've advanced more than $2 billion worth of funds to the State Government and we've been working directly with local councils.
A lot's been achieved and we shouldn't underestimate how much has been done. I mean, it's been remarkable how at every level of government right throughout the community people have worked together to rebuild, but some of the really big infrastructure takes a long time and this was a very costly set of natural disasters. In human terms we lost a lot of lives. It was also incredibly costly in economic terms, the most costly set of natural disaster the nation's ever faced in terms of infrastructure ruined, and we're still working together to rebuild that.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask you about the couple that have been detained by the Japanese?
PM: I'm happy to answer questions on that but we might just see if there's any more directly on Queensland flood recovery?
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PREMIER BLIGH: I think we all get emotional at different points. I have to say when I heard the words to 'It's a wonderful world' that was a pretty emotional moment.
Like Steve, I've had an opportunity to get to know many of the people who've lost family members, and I know what it took for them to be there today and I know the journey that they've been on the last 12 months and the many people there who - some of them still not back in their houses, some rebuilding, some who have only just started to feel that they're getting back on their feet, and for them to be there today, it was very important for them but I was very conscious that it was not an easy day for many of the people in today's audience and I think everybody was touched by that emotion.
As we said, this is still very, very raw. This is devastating grief and we all knew that it was going to be a long, hard, slow journey of many steps and today we all, together, took another step.
But there are many, many more ahead and there are many emotion days ahead I think, so there are good emotions and there are sad emotions. I think we both felt pretty emotional when we saw the new house opened on 10 December and we saw people moving into a new home in the face of unimaginable devastation.
So there are good times as well as bad times to be reflecting on.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PREMIER BLIGH: Well I think one of the really significant things about today's ceremony is to reassure the people in this valley that it might be 12 months down the track but they have not been forgotten. Australia still remembers what happened to them and we remember it just like it was last week, just like they do. We're not going to walk away from the long-term challenge of recovering this community.
Rebuilding roads and rebuilding buildings is only part of the journey. Helping to rebuild lives means being there for the long term. We've got a counselling program that's there for the next two years. We've got support workers working with the council - they're funded and they're there for the next couple of years.
We know that this is not over. We know that for many people they feel like they are just starting to make the first baby steps, and we're going to stand there and hold their hand every step of the way.
People feel very, very strengthened when they come out to these sorts of events and see the Governor General, the Governor, the Prime Minister of the country - that tells them that Australians still remember and I think they feel very heartened by it.
JOURNALIST: Mayor, can I ask you a question? (Inaudible).
STEVE JONES: Very advanced - we've taken on a lot of work in that regard. We've installed all sorts of electronic rainfall recording equipment, we've installed further gauges with government, further gauges in the creeks, and I think we're probably in a great position. It's a position that probably a small rural council such as ours would never ever have considered but once you've been through this episode you know it's possible and we want to make every step to make sure it's safe in the future.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
STEVE JONES: There is, there is. We've done a lot of work in that regard and quite early in the piece we had the system using the mobile phone in place and that's now continually in use and we're developing that further. We're developing some siren type systems to put into some of the townships and things will be quite advanced.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PM: Thank you for the question, and earlier today we did confirm that we are in a position to have the three Australians who are currently on the Shonan Maru released to us. Consequently we have dispatched a Customs vessel - the Ocean Protector - to go and rendezvous and pick them up. That does cause costs. Cost number one is in the extra fuel that is used because the vessel has to proceed at full speed so that it can get there in as timely a way as possible. That burns fuel.
And cost number two, of course our customs vessels have their own work to be getting on with including work protecting our fisheries. So let me make it clear the conduct of these three Australians in my view is unacceptable, engaging in illegal activity.
I feel very strongly about whaling, I know many Australians rightly do. But we are taking the most effective action we can against whaling through the International Court of Justice. People might want to make their views heard and they should but people need to make sure that they stay on the right side of the line and engage in legal activity and in terms of people who are going to the Southern Ocean, they need to keep themselves safe. This is a remote and dangerous stretch of water.
And I do also want to say this: people shouldn't assume because this matter has been successfully resolved that we are in a position to always resolve issues like this. If people engage in illegal activity then they are at risk of feeling the full force of the law and of course if you are on a Japanese vessel, then the law that applies when that vessel is beyond our waters, the law that applies is the law of Japan.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Bob Brown is seeking Tony Abbott's support for a bill that will require an Australian Customs vessel to escort all Japanese whaling vessels while they are in Australian territorial waters. Will you be supporting such a bill or will you be having talks about that bill?
PM: Well, let's just go through this in order.
First and foremost I think it's fairly easy for Mr Abbott to beat his chest when he's in Opposition. When Mr Abbott was in Government not one boat was ever dispatched and no legal action was taken to stop whaling.
We as a Government sent a vessel in order to record whaling activities to get the film footage we needed to support our legal action.
Number two, in terms of the seas, the Southern Ocean and the high seas generally, Australia does not have legal authority to just be charging around the ocean acting as an international police person. To do that can put our personnel at physical risk. This is a dangerous stretch of water, and it can put them at legal risk because they are not in our jurisdiction.
In terms of the entry of the Shonan Maru into our exclusive economic zone, we were advised about that by the Japanese Government. We made it clear that that coming into our waters was not welcome.
JOURNALIST: So are you saying what Bob Brown's proposing is impossible?
PM: In terms of a Australian vessel being out on the high seas acting as an independent police person, we do not have the legal authority to do that - we just don't.
Now, we did dispatch a vessel during one whaling season to record the evidence we needed to support the International Court of Justice case. That is the effective way for us to act to end whaling.
And once again I think it's pretty easy when you're in Opposition to demand that things should happen. I think the Opposition's got to answer for the fact over 11 long years of Government, not once, not ever, was a ship sent and no legal was ever taken against whaling.
JOURNALIST: How much is it going to cost?PM: Yep - we'll just do Holden. Yes, sure. Sorry?
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PM: Well the Minister for Manufacturing and indeed the Premier of South Australia are over in Detroit. They've been having productive discussions with GMH because we do want to see a car industry here in this country and I do want to see Holden have a future here in Australia.
Now we've faced the sceptics before. We were told during the days of the global financial crisis that it was impossible that Australia would emerge with a car industry. We worked with Holden, we worked with Ford, we worked with Toyota and we came through and we are one of the limited countries now around the world where you can move from design to production - all the way across what makes a motor vehicle.
So we're taking that spirit that we used during the global financial crisis to these current talks because I want to see Holden have a future. I also want to see Ford have a future, which is why today I've announced with the Victorian Government that we will be providing some assistance to Ford so that it does continue to manufacture here Ford vehicles and that they are more emissions efficient than they have been in the past.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PM: The Attorney General dealt with this today. We won't be in a position to give you every dollar and every cent until the operation is completed and the rendezvous has been made - the Australians picked up and then returned to Australia - but we are talking in the vicinity of hundreds of thousands of tax payer's dollars.
JOURNALIST: And that figure will be disclosed?
PM: Of course we're always happy to be completely transparent about figures.
I think anybody can just tell from common sense when you're talking about fuel used by a ship in part, how far it's got to travel and the ocean conditions that it strikes as it makes that travel, will have ramifications for the amount of fuel used, so that's why I'm not in a position to give you every dollar and every cent, but it will be in the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars and that does concern me.
I think that will concern Aussie taxpayers and I think it should weigh on the minds of people who are considering how they can best make their voices heard about whaling. Certainly, make your voice heard, but there's plenty of peaceful, legal ways to do just that.
Thank you.
[ENDS]