Well thank you very much General Cosgrove, to Pat Purcell, the Queensland Minister for Emergency Services, Bob Katter, the Federal Member for Kennedy, my good friend Ron Boswell, Senator for Queensland and leader of the National Party, the mayor's of Johnstone Shire, Atherton, Cairns, Mareeba, Cardwell, Herberton and Eacham and especially and particularly to the Mayor of Johnstone Shire, Ian*, you have been so much the centre-point of this wonderful effort.
Ladies and gentlemen I share the pride that General Cosgrove has expressed in the way in which everybody pulled together in that great Australian tradition, in adversity. Differences were put aside, the Federal Government, the State Government, the Local Government, we all pitched in and everybody worked together to help this wonderful community that'd been flattened by this cyclone. I came here two days, I think, after the cyclone hit and I was amazed at the damage. I was impressed even then at the stoicism and determination of the people.
And what's been great is that you've actually seen something of a role model for how different levels of government should work together. We've had some well published examples of other countries where, in the face of a natural disaster, different levels of government haven't worked together very well. They have on this occasion. Political differences have been utterly irrelevant, the goal has been to get the community back on its feet. And I think it's worked, there's still a long way to go and I don't pretend there isn't still a certain amount of heartache, I don't pretend that everything's been done perfectly, but I think it's been done in a spirit of commitment and true Australian mateship.
We are wonderful people, all the time of course, we Australians, but we are particularly wonderful when it comes to working together in tackling adversity, and I think it's been truly magnificent. I do want to pay, on your behalf, a tribute to General Peter Cosgrove for the wonderful work that he's done. I noticed he, you know, he couldn't express that sort of reservation about his state having been beaten in the State of Origin. I don't barrack for any state in the State of Origin, I love youse all. I may come from Sydney, but I got to tell you that the people of Queensland have always been so kind to me, I could never barrack against the Maroons, I can tell you that. I could never do that, not in a month of Sundays could I do that, and I got to tell you I went into their dressing room after the match in Melbourne and gee were they happy chappies, they were very, very keen indeed.
But to all of you North Queenslanders, but more importantly my fellow Australians, this is one of those occasions when I just want to say a collective thank you and to pay a collective tribute.
I do want to say something special, though, about the Queensland Police and the emergency service people. When there's a disaster the police and the emergency services and the ambulance officers, they're the people who are picking up often the bits and the pieces, and they're the only people who are there on the spot right at the beginning and I pay a lot of tribute to them. The small business field officers that we sent, and I think those grants, business grants for small business were a very quick and speedy red tape-less way of getting money back into community. There's only one way you can get a community going again and that is to get small business doing a bit and people spending money and the money starting to circulate in the community. And as soon as you get doing that you're cooking with gas again. And so to those people, and the Far North Queensland Area Consultative Committee, I'd especially like to thank them also for their contribution.
But the local organisations, the churches, the CWA, and all the other wonderful people, the individual acts of generosity, the families that started feeding people out of their own resources before any emergency service arrived, all of those things; it's just a wonderful demonstration of the open-hearted spirit of the Australian people.
The Commonwealth Government has tried to help, I think we're sort of about $237 million and still counting, I think the total contribution that the Commonwealth Government has made in different ways to this effort. But every cent of it's been well spent. There's an old saying about assistance and help beginning at home, and that's exactly the philosophy that we brought to this. We are a wealthy country and when some adversity strikes our fellow citizens, we have the capacity to help them. And that was the view that I took in relation to Innisfail and it's the view I would take about any other community who through no fault of its own got flattened. And that is what happened, you deserved help, you got it, and you got it in a cooperative spirit between all levels government and it's to the great credit of everybody associated with this effort that it has worked out well. We'll follow your progress closely, this won't be the last time I visit Innisfail, I'll comeback again. I've been here before on a number of occasions and I'll come back again. I wish you all well and thank you for what you've done and thank you for what you've shown the rest of the country that the true Australian spirit is all about.
Thanks.
* Neil
[ends]