13 December 2024

Joint press conference, Cairns

Note

Joint press conference with

Senator the Hon Jenny McAllister
Minister for Emergency Management
Minister for Cities

Senator the Hon Nita Green

Subjects: disaster relief funding, Productivity Commission inquiries, Liberal nuclear costings, insurance, water security

NITA GREEN:

It’s been a very long year. The scars are real, both physical – and we can see them when you walk up the side of any landslide on the way to Port Douglas – but they’re also emotional. And this time of year is difficult for people, and I want to acknowledge that – that we’re leading up to the one‑year anniversary and tensions are a little bit high. We’ve had some storms over the last couple of nights and people are feeling that anxiety of what that one‑year anniversary means to this community. But Far North Queensland is a really tough region, and we have rebuilt and recovered quickly because we’ve all pulled in together.

Together our governments have delivered $221 million for recovery funding that was at the early stages available almost day one after the floods and has been rolling out ever since over the last 12 months. That funding has gone to residents, businesses, tourism operators to help – and councils to help us recover and rebuild. And today’s announcement that the Minister for Emergency Management will make is an additional investment in our community.

I just want to finish by paying tribute once again to our emergency service personnel, to the ADF personnel, to the council workers, to the Ergon workers and to all the tourist operators and businesses that pitched in to help. We just couldn’t have got through the aftermath of Cyclone Jasper without you. And I know that it has been a long year. We didn’t have a Christmas in Far North Queensland last year. People haven’t had a break. It has been a long slog.

And so I want to acknowledge that people are feeling that, but also say thank you – thank you to Ann, to Jim and to Jenny because this announcement today comes at a very welcome time for our community. It means that we’re heading into Christmas with some very good news and hopefully a safe and cyclone‑free summer.

Thanks. I’ll hand over to the Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

JIM CHALMERS:

Thanks very much, Nita. In the last few days we’ve covered thousands of kilometres right throughout regional Queensland and what better place to finish the week than here in the tropical far north. The communities and industries of regional Queensland do so much of the heavy lifting in our national economy. We take our responsibilities to them very seriously. We listen to them, we invest in them.

I wanted to acknowledge here the very, very important, dedicated, tireless work of Senator Nita Green, the work that she does here in Cairns and in Far North Queensland more broadly right around the state to make sure that we are listening to local communities, investing in local industries and also helping them recover from natural disasters. So I acknowledge her, but I also acknowledge the new minister Ann. I acknowledge Bree, the new local member, I acknowledge Amy and Lisa, the mayors of this beautiful part of the world and I also wanted to particularly acknowledge the SES and all of the responders that Nita mentioned a moment ago as well.

It was one year ago today, as I understand it, that Tropical Cyclone Jasper made landfall, and we know that a year ago these people of these communities were there for each other and we want people here to know that we are there for you as well. In the most difficult time, the most scary times, Australians are there for each other and your governments are there for you as well in the worst of times and also when it comes to rebuilding beautiful communities like this one and that’s what today is all about. Today, the anniversary of landfall, I think Tuesday coming is the anniversary of when the Barron River got to its highest point in that particular event.

Look, as a Queenslander I know how much damage that major storms can do to communities like this one. I think Nita rightly acknowledged the physical damage, the damage to infrastructure, but also the emotional damage, the angst that people feel and that’s why the investments that we’re announcing today are really so important.

We are already proud to be providing and have provided hundreds of millions of dollars to the rebuild and recovery here and today we announce another $206 million to help make sure that we rebuild this community after Tropical Cyclone Jasper. This will rebuild roads, bridges, drains, it will help stabilise river banks and make these local communities more resilient, and it’s resilience that we need. It’s resilience that we see when these major storms are underway, and it’s resilience that we are building with these investments.

We’re very, very proud to be working with the new Queensland government, with the mayors and with the local representatives here and with Senator Nita Green to make sure that the hundreds of millions of dollars of investment are all about making this community resilient. The people here are resilient, and we want to make sure that the local economy is resilient as well, and that’s what this investment is all about.

So let’s hear from Ann and then some others, and then I’m going to come back and cover off some of the national issues of the day.

ANN LEAHY:

Thank you very much. And, look, it’s fantastic to be here in Cairns today with our local mayors and also our federal parliamentary colleagues. I’ve spent a lot of time here in the last 12 months in places like in the Douglas Shire, Port Douglas, but also up at Mossman and further north at Daintree right up to Noahs Range and then further north to Wujal Wujal and Cooktown as well, seeing the impacts and what has actually happened from this event. And I think it’s really – when I look at what’s happened to the people, it is so important today to welcome this package of $206 million, but I also look at the money that has been supplied for water and sewerage. I’ve spent time in the Douglas water treatment plant, which I’ve had knowledge of and dealings with for the last 20‑odd years, and I just know how welcome this will be. I know how many times they’ve had to turn the water off in that area at the Douglas Shire and the things that they’ve had to do to try and make sure they get drinking water for their community.

But I also want to shout out to the frontline workers in our councils, our SES and our emergency services, and also our Transport and Main Roads staff as well who did an amazing job under very extreme conditions. They were faced with boulders on roads that were the size of, you know, D9 dozers that they had to move, and they’d never been faced with those sorts of challenges before. And I just want to shout out to them because they did such a fantastic job at actually getting this region reconnected because those roads are so critically important for access to both Port Douglas, Mossman and also Mareeba.

But I’m very pleased to see and I absolutely welcome this funding package here. It is the fourth package of an overall recovery package for this region. And it will go a long way to helping the recovery in the future for this region. And we know that there are still many people who are displaced, particularly further to the north in places like, you know, Degarra. It’s very difficult to do recovery in that area, and I know that this will certainly help and give them the confidence that when these disasters actually happen, the Queensland state government, we actually have Queenslanders’ backs and we’ll make sure we’re there to support them going forward. We will work with our local government colleagues and also our federal government colleagues to ensure that we do have their backs and we roll out that assistance as quickly as we possibly can to help them get back on their feet going forward for future disasters.

And I might now hand to Jenny.

JENNY MCALLISTER:

Thanks Ann. And as others have observed, it’s a year since Cyclone Jasper crossed the coast and kicked off a series of events which were literally life changing for many people in this community. It is a real pleasure to be here with so many colleagues from all different levels of government and, indeed, of all kinds of political persuasions. Because communities here have stood together and looked after one another in the aftermath of a very, very difficult event. And what communities expect to see is governments working together, to stand with them.

Because I think all of us down south remember seeing the images, really shocking images of what communities were enduring just a year ago. But for the people here, it wasn’t just [inaudible]; it was truly life altering. And the consequences of that event take a long time to heal. Getting the community back on its feet psychologically, financially, physically takes time. And it’s important that governments are here for that journey.

I was appointed as Emergency Management Minister in July. This is my third visit to Cairns. And on every occasion I’ve been welcomed by the political leaders here and I’ve had a chance to speak with [inaudible]. I want community members to know that we understand how difficult it can be and that we are committed to seeing this job through. And I thank the colleagues who have welcomed me and supported me and briefed me on each occasion that I’ve been able to come.

The funding that we’re providing today will support betterment, making [inaudible] more resilient to events like this. It will support investments in [inaudible], a remote community hit hard by this disaster. And it will support investments in water and sewerage infrastructure in the shires that really experienced some of the worst damage [inaudible].

There’s funding as well for legal services because in the aftermath of a disaster things get [inaudible] and can sometimes need a little bit of legal advice to navigate all sorts of problems that arise when a community is hit.

These all come on top of previous investments. We understand that government has to step up. The Australian Government understands that we need to step up when disaster strikes occur, and our government has been incredibly focused on making sure that we are in position to work with states and territories, to work with local government to provide the resources that are necessary [inaudible].

I want to make one final observation about the work that gets done in this building and all around this region by first responders. Every year maybe 9 cyclones form up [inaudible]. About 4 of them across the coast, but as these communities understand, it only takes one of them to cause very significant damage. Significant work is going on with SES personnel, the volunteers who have come here to prepare and work and get ready in their communities to help people. But there are things communities can do as well, and now is a really important time to start connecting with the local SES, and start connecting with a local emergency [inaudible] and making sure that you have a plan, you’ve got – you know what people are going to take with them and you know where you’re going to go [inaudible]. So our message to communities is that we’re there. First responders are preparing [inaudible]. Thank you.

AMY EDEN:

I’m absolutely thrilled to be here for the announcement today. Obviously it is the anniversary of Jasper [inaudible] we know [inaudible]. We know that communities [inaudible] next step [inaudible] recovery journey is a long journey. This is a step in the right direction. A lot of our spaces here in Cairns, our recreational spaces, such as [inaudible] are still severely damaged from the cyclone [inaudible], and we are hopeful that this funding will enable repair for that. We know that our families and our communities that have been significantly impacted use those spaces for their wellbeing and peace of mind and to continue to go out to the foreshore and feel the bunting and the twisted up posts and railing is really quite distressing and triggering.

Equally, we’ve had a couple of spots in the last couple of days and it has really heightened the anxiety and awareness in our community.

So it’s a good opportunity, like Jenny was just saying, to make sure that you know your zone, that you can have an evacuation kit, cyclone kit and an evacuation plan. And if you need to evacuate, then you know where you’re going and if that’s a safe place to go.

I really want to thank the federal government, the state government, the Queensland government agencies such as QRA, all of our first responders. It really is everyone working together to bring out results like this, and we’re very grateful. Thank you.

LISA SCOMAZZON:

What I’d like to say is this is fantastic news for small councils, and it’s a true example of how 3 levels of government have worked together to be able to provide what we need for our communities. In Douglas Shire, we’ve still got families that are still not in their homes, and this will help to move forward for our communities. So as a small council it’s very hard to keep up with our infrastructure, and this will be a great help for us.

So I’d like to thank the state and federal government. We couldn’t do it without you, and I’m proud as a mayor to be able to welcome you. Thank you.

CHALMERS:

Can I just really acknowledge Amy’s work and Lisa’s work and also Ann and Jenny McAllister as well. Jenny and Murray before her, they do spend a lot of time in flood‑affected and storm‑affected communities, so it’s very great to see Jenny here in Cairns once again.

I’ve just got to cover off on some national issues, so I ask for some patience before we get to some questions.

First of all I wanted to say that disaster funding is one of the key reasons why there will be some slippage in the mid‑year budget update when we release it before long. This $200 million that we’re announcing today is part of an extra $1.8 billion in the mid‑year budget update, and Queensland gets more than three‑quarters of that. Queensland gets 1.4 billion of the $1.8 billion upgrade to natural disaster funding in the mid‑year budget update. For obvious reasons – we get more natural disasters, but also communities like this one deserve more than their fair share of funding to respond.

This isn’t the only spending variation hitting the mid‑year budget update. It is one of the bigger ones. There will be a handful of what’s called estimates variations, and they will put really quite substantial pressure on the budget. We’ll see that in the mid‑year budget update. This isn’t the only one. But it is one of the handful of bigger ones.

Despite the pressures on the budget, we’ve still been able as a government to deliver 2 budget surpluses and the biggest ever turnaround in the Commonwealth Budget. The biggest nominal turnaround that we’ve ever seen on record in a single parliamentary term will be the central feature of the mid‑year budget update when it is released.

Just yesterday we got a reminder of how important our responsible economic management is when we got that quite remarkable unemployment number of 3.9 per cent. Unemployment at 3.9 is especially remarkable in a very weak economy which is weighed down by global economic uncertainty and also the impact of cost‑of‑living pressures and higher interest rates.

In difficult and uncertain times the Albanese government has been able to keep the economy growing. We’ve seen inflation moderating, real wages are growing, unemployment has been falling, a million jobs have been created. Every taxpayer is getting tax cuts, every household is getting energy bill relief, and still with all of that we’ve delivered those 2 surpluses and much less debt than what we inherited.

Our economic policies are helping to deliver the soft landing in our economy that we want to see. But we know that people are still doing it tough, and that’s why the cost of living is still the primary focus of our government.

Now in the near term we’ve made that very welcome and encouraging progress in the budget and in the economy. But we’ve also maintained a focus on the longer term issues in our economy as well.

In this regard productivity is obviously key. Australia’s productivity problem is not 2 years in the making, it’s at least 2 decades in the making, and it will take some time to turn around.

We believe the answer to making our economy more productive is not to make people work longer for less but to invest in their skills and their capabilities and their ability to adapt and adopt technology as it changes in faster and faster ways.

Today I have formally tasked the Productivity Commission to undertake 5 separate inquiries into each of the different pillars of productivity in our economy – technological change, human capital, the energy transformation, the care economy and also our agenda when it comes to competition and dynamism in our economy.

We’ve made a lot of investments, whether it’s the Productivity Fund, Fee‑free TAFE, the Universities Accord, the energy transformation, all of our investments in the care economy, and what we’re asking the PC for is to report back to us in the middle of next year and then by the end of next year on the next steps in what is already a very substantial and very ambitious growth agenda.

When we came to office productivity was already quite weak. People were already going backwards. Inflation was higher and rising. Real wages were falling. There were big deficits every single year and there was almost nothing to show for a trillion dollars of debt.

When we think about what’s being proposed today by the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton when it comes to nuclear, we know that he’s a risk to the economy because we know his record – coming after Medicare, coming after wages, and now pushing up prices as well.

His nuclear fantasy is economic insanity, and Australians will pay more as a consequence of what we’re hearing today from Peter Dutton.

His numbers are wrong. His assumptions are dodgy. Australians would pay a very hefty price for this con job that we’re hearing all about from Peter Dutton today.

Nuclear energy in Australia is more expensive. It will push up power prices, it takes longer, and even in the best case scenario it would only deliver a tiny sliver of our energy needs.

Australians want cleaner and cheaper energy with more storage. That will strengthen our economy, not weaken our economy. That’s the future that we are building for Australia.

We’re all happy to take your questions.

JOURNALIST:

The Coalition does say, though, that it’s going to be $300 billion cheaper than the renewable plan. I guess, what’s your comment to that?

CHALMERS:

You can’t believe a word they say about nuclear energy. These costings were supposed to be provided months ago, and now we know why – his numbers are wrong. His assumptions are dodgy and Australians would pay a hefty price for that.

This is a con job from Peter Dutton, pure and simple. The numbers that have been released today are wrong. The assumptions are dodgy. The CSIRO has already said that nuclear energy in Australia would cost twice what renewable energy costs as a source of new energy. The AEMO and other experts have made it very clear.

Sensible, middle‑of‑the‑road, credible economists and energy experts know that Australia’s future is renewable – overwhelmingly. Firmed up by gas, lots of storage, making use of hydro and focused on wind and solar and all of the vast, immense opportunities that Australia has and our economy has.

We have a big opportunity in this country to be the biggest beneficiary of the global net zero transformation. We would be mad to turn our back on that. And that’s why this nuclear fantasy from Peter Dutton is economic insanity from beginning to end.

JOURNALIST:

So the Productivity Commission won’t report back then before the next election?

CHALMERS:

That’s deliberate. We’re already rolling out a very ambitious and comprehensive productivity agenda right across human capital, energy, technology, the care economy. We’ve got the most substantial competition agenda of any government for quite some time now, probably all the way back to the Keating government. The biggest merger reforms in 50 years, the Productivity Fund, the universities accord, Fee‑Free TAFE.

We’ve got a huge agenda on productivity. We’re already rolling that out. What we’ve deliberately done here is we’ve asked the PC to conduct these 5 inquiries so that whoever wins the election in the first half of next year will have some considered views and some advice and some ideas about what the next wave of productivity reform could look like.

We’ve been upfront and said this productivity problem in our economy has been developing for decades, not just the last couple of years. It will take some time to turn around. But we give ourselves every chance not by making people work longer for less but by investing in their capacity, making it easier to adapt and adopt technology, making the most of the energy transformation and making our economy more productive and dynamic.

That’s the focus of the work of the PC. They’ll give us some initial views around the middle of the year and some final reports by the end of the year. Then whoever is in government can choose which items to pick up.

JOURNALIST:

The Coalition’s nuclear costings put it at $263 million less than the testament of Labor’s transition and some energy experts are suggesting that modelling doesn’t compare like for like. Do you agree with that?

CHALMERS:

The experts that deal with these matters, economists and energy experts, know that these numbers being put out by Peter Dutton today aren’t worth the paper that they’re written on. These numbers are full of dodgy assumptions, and that’s what makes them wrong.

The problem with that is that Australians would pay a really hefty price. We know from credible experts that in Australia nuclear costs more, takes longer, pushes up power bills and would only deliver something like 4 per cent of our power needs, even if it all got built.

That just shows the economic insanity of what’s being proposed today. The absolute economic madness of what Peter Dutton is proposing.

One of the tragedies of it is that Peter Dutton would have Australia turn our back on this remarkable combination of natural advantages that we have. Most other countries want to be like us when it comes to the energy transformation. Most other countries see our combination of industry, resources, our skills, our Future Made in Australia plan, all of that gives ourselves every chance to make the most of this transformation, and Peter Dutton would turn Australia’s back on those advantages. Our country would be poorer for it and people would pay more for it.

JOURNALIST:

Power prices went up just by the PM saying they would go down under Labor. Are you getting enough firming power to the grid?

CHALMERS:

First of all, in the most recent inflation data power prices have come down very substantially. You have to be careful taking Peter Dutton’s word for it.

The percentage change in power prices in the most recent CPI data was in the 30‑something per cent. Part of the reason for that is because of the $300 energy bill rebate that we’re providing to every household that Peter Dutton opposed. If Peter Dutton actually wanted lower power prices, he wouldn’t have opposed twice now our energy bill rebates, which have taken some of the sting out of these power prices, which are putting pressure on households budgets. If you look at the numbers and you listen to the experts, you see in that inflation data that power prices have come off.

But we know that people are still under pressure. That’s why we’re providing that – those energy bill rebates, and they are making a difference according to the ABS.

JOURNALIST:

Is it realistic to assume keeping ageing coal‑fired power stations running longer won’t add significant cost?

CHALMERS:

First of all, when it comes to some of those older coal‑fired assets, the companies themselves have made it clear that over the coming years a number of those will close down. The challenge for us as governments is to make sure we’ve got the gas firming but also to make sure that we are building the new sources of renewable baseload power, which will be so important to the future of our economy.

What we’re about is cleaner and cheaper energy. What the other guys are about, unfortunately, is more expensive energy which will take longer to get into the system. That, again, is not a realistic way to deal with this energy transformation.

If you’re not prepared to listen to the kind of political contest over nuclear power, have a listen to the investors. I convene roundtables of investors, trillions of dollars represented around the table. They don’t want to go near you, Peter, because they know that Australia’s future is renewable, firmed by gas, backed up by storage with a role for hydro. That’s what sensible people think about the future of energy in Australia.

We can strengthen our economy by making our energy cleaner and cheaper. Peter Dutton wants to go in a different direction. That would make our economy weaker and our people poorer.

JOURNALIST:

Are you assuming, then, that the modelling that suggests that nuclear will account for 38 per cent of generation by 2050 impacts [indistinct] renewable projects?

CHALMERS:

We know that they are anti‑renewables. That’s very clear.

No matter what they say today, it’s very clear that when it comes to not just the government’s investments in renewable energy but the nation’s investments in renewable energy, a substantial part of the Coalition party room don’t even believe in renewables. Australia’s renewable energy future is at great risk from Peter Dutton and from his colleagues, and we know that because of not just what he’s saying today but what he’s been saying for some time.

We know that Peter Dutton is a risk to renewable energy because we know his record, and we know he’s a risk to household budgets because he came after Medicare last time he was in government, comes after wages whenever he can and now he wants to push up people’s power prices as well.

JOURNALIST:

Speaking to a manager at the local centre yesterday, she’s concerned that there’s a growing issue in Cairns among people who do get their insurance payouts and they’re considering themselves lucky because so many people haven’t. Has your government done enough to reform this space? Are people essentially being lowballed? Are you concerned that this is an ongoing practice that could happen again this summer?

CHALMERS:

We’re always concerned to make sure that insurance companies do the right thing by their customers. Jenny and I spent some time with a major insurer up here earlier in the week in Brisbane being briefed on their expectations for the coming storm season.

We work closely with the sector and we want them to treat people fairly. When there’s a major storm event or a natural disaster of any kind it’s tough enough on people as it is without being messed around by the insurance companies. We want them to do the right thing. We expect them to do the right thing. And we’re also proud to be funding and supporting some of that financial advice which helps people get a fair go when it comes to insurance.

JOURNALIST:

Do agencies need more teeth, though? People have essentially, in their words, it’s been a full‑time job dealing with their insurance companies and fighting claims.

CHALMERS:

I know that people have a range of experiences. Those experiences can be varied, and for some people it can be especially tough. That’s what the advice services are about. It’s what our advocacy, our work is all about, working closely with our colleague Stephen Jones. And if there are ideas to make insurance fairer or there’s more that we can do to advocate for people who are at risk of being treated wrongly or badly, then we’ve always got an open mind to that.

JOURNALIST:

The Queensland Reconstruction Authority says the ’23–24 disaster season, the damage bill is at $3.1 billion. Do you have an idea of what that may rise to or what it could be if, you know, you include some of the intangibles like lost tourism.

CHALMERS:

We know that natural disasters cost local people and local economies billions of dollars. And often that costing evolves over time. And one of the reasons why we’re providing another $1.8 billion in natural disaster funding in the mid‑year budget update is because those costings are old and we learn and discover more about what’s necessary.

Here, again, I pay tribute to my colleagues from the state government and from the mayors of local governments as well – because we are more or less constantly trying to work out how do we do the best we can for storm‑affected and natural disaster‑affected communities. We know that that often comes with a hefty price tag.

But as we said at the very outset, you know, when the people of Far North Queensland and Australians more broadly are there for each other during these difficult times, they’re right to expect that we are there for them as well, and that why we are investing billions of dollars around Australia but especially here in rural communities.

JOURNALIST:

The Cairns Regional Council is still waiting to learn whether the federal government will help make up the increased budget in Cairns for water security. When will they learn that that’s the case?

CHALMERS:

First of all I wanted to acknowledge Amy’s advocacy and also Nita Green’s advocacy. We know that this is an issue here in Cairns and in Far North Queensland. We’ve had a number of discussions, Nita and I. Nita has also been talking with the Water Minister about this in her characteristically dedicated and committed way. A number of conversations. And I know that Amy as well is a very forceful advocate for this community.

You’d be aware that we’ve got the $108 million on the table. That was what we committed. And we’ve also committed to see what else can be done. We know that the costs have blown out. We know that it’s a very important project. We know that we’ve got a couple of very willing, enthusiastic advocates, and we’ll see what can be done.

You know, we obviously have to make everything add up. We’ve obviously got very substantial budget constraints, but we know the issue. We’re investing already and we’ve said we’re prepared to work with the local government to see what [indistinct] be done.

JOURNALIST:

I have some questions for Lisa, actually, if that’s okay? Just quickly, I know especially [inaudible] fighting really hard for this water infrastructure to be fixed. Now we’ve finally got this funding, can you tell us a little bit about how this funding for water infrastructure in Port Douglas, what it will do?

SCOMAZZON:

Staff have done an exceptional amount of work fixing our system at the moment, so­ – and that is looking at opening up [inaudible]. So we’ve put valves through different parts of the shire to be able to transport water. So there’s been a lot of work that’s been done so far, and this money here [indistinct] to be able to [indistinct] other issues that [indistinct].

JOURNALIST:

Do you think this will, like, kind of hugely improve our water system in Port Douglas?

SCOMAZZON:

It will help. It’s going to be – you know, [inaudible] population for the whole shire it will be a great help. So we’re working towards it and we’ve done very well [inaudible].

JOURNALIST:

The bureau’s tropical cyclone warning says there’s a 15 per cent chance – a low chance – of a cyclone in parts of Cape York peninsula from late next week. Speaking to someone in Cairns yesterday he said because of how last summer went he won’t wait for any bureau warnings or have faith that the warnings will alert him in time. Should people be more confident that the systems will work better in 2024–25?

MCALLISTER:

We are very conscious, of course, that we are coming into the high response season. And that means each state and territory government, including Queensland, has to prepare on all fronts. That – as part of that we have been working with local government and the Queensland government to make sure that the warning system [inaudible] local people will understand that after the events with Cyclone Jasper there are [inaudible] any event. And certainly [inaudible] lessons from the last event and have been working to implement those in collaboration with states and local government.

JOURNALIST:

Can you break down what the type of funding is? What that get the [indistinct]?

MCALLISTER:

Wujal was incredibly badly affected and the full evacuation as others have observed. The package is designed to allow local communities to identify their needs. They’ll be working with the Queensland government who administer the program to identify the projects that they seek to invest in. The money is for essential community infrastructure. We would expect that the Wujal Council is able to work [inaudible] government to establish [inaudible].

CHALMERS:

Everyone good? Thank you.