PM: Can I say it's fantastic to be here in Townsville, I'm joined by some very tall friends you can see behind me from the Townsville Crocs, they had a great victory last night, and I'm also joined by Senator Jan McLucas who is a Queensland Senator up here in far north Queensland. And it's been terrific to be here for two reasons. Number one, to see the basketball game last night and to see the community spirit at that basketball game which meant the people of Townsville raised more than $50,000 to help Queenslanders who are suffering with the floods, and I think that's a great example of what's happening right around the State and right around the country as people pull together and make sure they're helping each other at what is a really difficult time.
And it's also great to be here in Townsville to see the way that supplies are being brought through. The opportunity, when I was at Amberley, so see these kind of supplies being packed onto C-17s, the huge Defence Force aircraft that are moving supplies around to help out during the floods. And here we're seeing what happens to those supplies, when they land on the ground they are quickly dispatched so that they get out there and people can get the things that they need.
So a very big thank you to the Defence Force again for all the work it's doing and a very big thank you to people who are here who are making all of the arrangements so that this work goes to good use. I know these have been very difficult times right around Queensland, one of the things that people have been worried about is how will I get the stuff that I need, that my family needs and the food we need and here we're seeing part of that answer with such great work being done by Defence.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister is it time to start looking at maybe flood proofing the Bruce Highway or (inaudible)
PM: Well as a Government we have invested in the Bruce Highway and we've also invested in a feasibility study about flood proofing (inaudible) major issue and we're expecting the works of that feasibility study, which was commissioned some time ago before the current flood crisis, to be available to us in the middle of the year. But generally what I think is going to happen as floodwaters subside, we're going to see what's happened to the infrastructure, we're going to see where we need to (inaudible) see where we need to rebuild to a better standard so it's more flood proof in the future.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Well we made a series of commitments to the people of Townsville during the election campaign and we'll be honouring those commitments. In terms of getting engineering advice and structural advice, advice from surveyors about what we need to do in dealing with this flood crisis, that will happen in the days and weeks ahead. The focus has been on the really immediate thing that people need to live, food's really important and that's what we've seen here, we've seen the supplies getting through.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just quickly, can I just ask about Mamdouh Habib, why request the Inspector-General to investigate him if the Government paid him compensation I understand?
PM: Look we did settle that case which of course was leftover from the previous Government, and so we thought it was in the interests of Australian taxpayers to conclude the matter.
Thank you very much.