LEILA MCKINNON:
Treasurer, you’ve had a meeting with the major banks and insurers today. How confident are you that Australians will get what they need to rebuild in a timely manner?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, the Insurance Council and the various CEOs that we met with today made it very clear that their priority is to deliver that support. They’re already providing emergency accommodation to those who have lost everything. They’re providing cash payments to help people get through this immediate period. They’re also bringing in additional staff, some from overseas in order to get the assessors into the field and they’re placing representatives in the recovery centres to deal directly with people who are affected. They’re also engaged already with builders to assist in the rebuilding process where they’re placing a real priority on local tradespeople. So, they’re focus is the same as the Government’s focus which is to deliver the support to people who need it most.
LEILA MCKINNON:
One of our viewers, Lorraine, wrote in with a good question; what about the farmers? What about the areas that fall through the cracks? She says we know homes will be looked after. What will happen to our farmers as they rebuild?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The Government announced yesterday a $2 billion National Bushfire Recovery Fund which will support small businesses but also primary producers when they start to restock and to replant as well as important economic and community infrastructure. But the experience we had with the north Queensland floods is there is Federal money going to be available to those primary producers.
LEILA MCKINNON:
A lot of our viewers are wanting to know about premiums; does this more broadly mean that premiums will go up for people who are already struggling to pay?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It’s too early to tell what the full impact will be on premiums, but obviously this is a dramatic disaster and it will involve significant costs not only to the insurance companies but to Federal and State Governments. But our priority is not on the bottom line, our priority is on helping those who need our help. The Prime Minister has made it very clear that the cost is not an issue here; what is an issue is how quickly we can get operational and financial support to people who need it most.
LEILA MCKINNON:
Obviously the cost to life and to property and to people’s livelihoods is number one, but how much of a hit has this whole crisis been economically for the country?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
It’s too early to tell the full economic impact of these bushfires but, certainly, the rebuild will take time and the communities cannot do it alone, so we will do everything that we can to support those communities get through this very challenging period ahead.
LEILA MCKINNON:
Josh Frydenberg, thank you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thank you.