E&OE...........................................................................................
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Well alarmed and like all Australians we feel very much for our
fellow country men and women who....one case a life lost, left
homeless. Any additional assistance that is needed from the Commonwealth
Government will be made available. There are normal disaster relief
arrangements and they are automatically triggered but if anything
further is needed well, naturally, I'll cooperate fully with
the New South Wales Premier. And I can only say on behalf of all
Australians that our thoughts are very much with the people of Wollongong.
It is a one in three hundred year event, an extraordinary development
and we are thinking very much of them in their hour of difficulty.
The emergency services, again, have been quite outstanding....
JOURNALIST:
It's been a tough winter hasn't it?
PRIME MINISTER:
It's been a very tough winter for emergency services but I
have just got to say on behalf of all Australians, we are proud
of you, of the emergency service personnel, the police, the ambulance
workers. They have really done us proud and that great Australian
spirit of cooperating together in adversity has once more been demonstrated.
Thank you.
[ENDS]