TRANSCRIPT: Press Conference – Yeppoon, QLD, 15 November 2019

E&OE

Subjects: bushfires; infrastructure; Rookwood Weir

With: Michelle Landry, John Mathers, Michael McCormack, Bill Ludwig and David Littleproud.

MICHELLE LANDRY:

We’re out at [indistinct] Control Centre today. This is where they've been controlling the fires down the Capricorn Coast. I’ve brought the Deputy Prime Minister along and the Minister for Emergency Services, as well as these guys that are obviously running the place, John Mathers, and others that are here [indistinct] also the mayor. So, we've been having a debrief. We've been meeting the volunteers out here and also the workers and it was really good to catch up with the Tasmanian firefighters that have come up here to help us. Queensland have sent firefighters down there and they come up to help. So it's wonderful to see that everyone helps each other in Australia – state to state when there’s a disaster, we have our people on board.

But I thought it was very important to have our ministers here today just to see- to be on the ground, to talk to the emergency services people, and speak to the mayor about what has happened here and how things can be improved, but also to have the opportunity to get out in the fire damaged areas and talk to our farmers, which is what we certainly have been doing today. And once again, I must congratulate our emergency services for the marvellous job that they have done in protecting this Capricorn Coast and other areas here. I think it's been amazing what has happened. But just to see everyday people that have gone out there and, you know, probably pushed themselves beyond their abilities to actually get there and fight these fires. When you travel around to those areas and you see how close this fire came to homes, and they’ve been saved, it’s absolutely incredible. So, congratulations to everyone that has done that.

I will now hand over to John Mathers, and he’ll be giving you a bit of a rundown on what they’ve been doing here.

JOHN MATHERS:

Good afternoon. Yeah, it’s John Mathers. M-A-T-H-E-R-S and I am the Deputy Operations Officer for the [indistinct] control. Basically today, we've got quite a number of firefighters out in the area. There is approximately 50 firefighters in the area split between rural firefighters and some Tasmanian firefighters, plus a large group of local firefighters as well. But it's not just that. We’ve got quite a few SES people, police, ambulance, other services that are also helping to run this place. So all up, we're getting close to about 80 or 90 people in or around the sites here. The trucks that we got, the actual firefighting trucks on the fire ground, we have approximately 28 of those and they are working in two areas within the burnt section of what we’re calling [indistinct] patrol. Right at the present time, we do have our people in containment lines putting out spot fires and the process or range area of fire field here.

And yeah, everything's going particularly well at the present time. The weather is a little bit hindering us from doing exactly what we were wanting to do. But yeah, we're just waiting for the rains [inaudible]… what we need to do to [inaudible]…

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

States helping states, mates helping mates. That's what we see here at Yeppoon on the Capricorn Coast. We've just met and thanked those wonderful, dedicated and very, very professional firefighters sent up here from Tasmania. They put their hands up to help people they don't even know. They put their hands up to come here and put out the fires, which have so threatened many, many homes here in Queensland. Of course, as you just heard, we've lost a number of homes. We've lost a number of properties, which we can always replace. We can always replace buildings. We can always replace homes. We can't replace lives. And that's why I say it again, and I know David Littleproud will certainly back me up, the Emergency Management Minister, by saying that if you are  asked to leave your home, then please do so. If authority, an emergency management personnel person comes and says to you, you need to leave now, then do so. If you've got the time to prepare, make sure you take a lot of clothes, make sure you take enough clothes to last for a day or two, but also make sure you take your medication. I spoke to a pharmacist last night who said, yes, they can help you if you're caught short. But I urge and encourage those people, and particularly your asthma puffer, because the smoke is filling the air and people get respiratory illness and they get short of breath. They get their wheezes up in these sorts of conditions. So make sure you take your asthma puffer; make sure you obey all the emergency management personnel and their advice. It's only meant to save your lives and to save, indeed, yourselves.

You can always replace buildings but you can't restore lives. And if you see somebody doing something wrong, lighting a fire, please ring Crime Stoppers: 1800-333-000. And dob them in. Report them as soon as you see them. We need to make sure that we stop these arson events. And if you see a fire that is burning, that is obviously unknown, ring 000. Ring 000. We need to make sure that we contain these fires as soon as we can. We've got the most professional firefighters. We've got a lot of volunteers on the ground. They’re doing their utmost. They're working above and beyond normal human means to actually get these fires out. They're there to help you. They're there to save you, your livelihoods and your lives. And they'll do the very best they can. But if they need a bit of help, whether it's through Crime Stoppers reporting an arsonist, whether it's through 000 reporting a fire, then please help them to help you.

David, would you like to make a few comments?

DAVID LITTLEPROUD:

Well, look, thank you, Deputy Prime Minister. Can I just reiterate – the entire country is not out of the woods yet. There are still significant risks coming over the weekend. It is beholden on all of us to prepare – from the household, to the community, to the state, to the federal level. But it starts at home. And it's imperative that you are prepared to leave; that you know where your neighbours are and what their movements, and you tell your neighbours when you leave, where you’re going. And it's important we work together because there are thousands of men and women out there, great men and women, professional men and women, some of whom are volunteers, are putting their lives on the line for us. And if they ask you to do something, do it and do it immediately. They do not need hindrance. They simply need it to be able to do their job. So it's imperative that no one takes the mentality of – she’ll be right. You cannot have that mentality. It will not be right. You need to be on the job and ready to move. We are working in states and obviously, the recovery is already initiated in New South Wales and out here in Queensland and that will ramp up. It’s only initial recovery payments that have been put out there. But we need time, we need safety for state agencies to be able to make further assessments, and the Federal Government will work hand in hand with the state governments and local governments to make sure that the recovery is one that gets our communities and those people that are impacted back up on their feet.

We’re a lucky nation, we’re a rich nation, and it’s times like these that we come together. So it's important to appreciate that we'll do that and we'll continue to make sure that assets that are required, whether they be from the Australian Defence Force right through [indistinct] are there to support us, over what is going to be a very long season, a very long season. It started earlier. The predictions were right. We predicted this would start in August. It started in August and it's going to continue and we have to be ready to make sure we continue to work. And we've managed the fatigue of those brave men and women who come from all around the country and in fact, we've had 25 Kiwis come over and help us as well, and we will continue to work as a global community if we need to, if these fires start to ramp up again over the season. We've done a great job in what we've been able to do now, and we’ll always make sure we understand the risks. But it’s beholden on all of us to keep everybody safe. So, can I thank those men and women who have done this amazing job so far, and we thank them from the bottom of our heart on behalf of a grateful nation. Can I just say, thank you.

BILL LUDWIG:

Look, it is absolutely fantastic that we've got our Deputy Prime Minister here, the responsible minister for emergency management - we had the Premier yesterday - see firsthand not only the event that’s unfolded here and how the brave men and women, in particular our rural fire volunteers who were the first responders, worked when they coordinated everything. We invested some of the best technology and a great disaster coordination centre we only have thanks to funding, co-funding from state and federal, working with local government to ensure that we have the best means to defend and to coordinate these extraordinary events. The message that we need to put out as we [indistinct] while other areas in Queensland and New South Wales remain either active or under threat is that we need to have a coordinated approach to that and we need to take some of the lessons learned to put extra funding into mitigation measures. The cool burns and things that we can do, learn some of the lessons from Victoria where they have programs that profile the road verges to create long, better fire breaks, better facilities and strategies in place so that our local defenders with the professional firefighters can actually do the great job that they need to do. But thank you on behalf of our community. It's been a great team effort; it's been federal state and local government working together and supporting a community that stands up with bravery and defends their properties. But we couldn't do it without you.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Any questions?

JOURNALIST:

Yeah I’ve got a couple of questions.

Do you have any regrets about the comments you made earlier this week about inner city raving lunatics?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Not at all. Inner city raving lunatics like Adam Bandt and Richard Di Natale needed calling out. The fact is they went out hard and they went out early claiming, claiming, that the Prime Minister was in some way responsible for already the deaths that had occurred in the fires earlier in the week. I mean that is reprehensible and as the Deputy Prime Minister, let alone just any other normal Australian, would think, would think that those comments were not called for, were reprehensible, and should actually be apologised for by the people who made those comments.

But the Greens haven't apologised, in fact they've just cranked it up. They brought somebody into the Parliament who then said when the firefighters go home, that they're going to in some way abuse their wives, abuse their female companions. I mean, this is an affront to the hardworking firefighters, men and women, who've put in many cases their lives on the line to protect property and to protect lives.

And then of course, we saw the senator come out and accuse again the government of being arsonists. I mean, this is beyond the pale. What we need is understanding, what we need is making sure that the firefighters have the best resources – and they do – to have the time and the patience for the rest of society to be able to let them get on with the jobs that they do so well for and on behalf of Australians, and that is putting out fires. That's what we needed and the fact is we didn't see that from the Greens this week. They saw a political opportunity and they took it, they seized upon it, they haven’t apologised, and they should.

JOURNALIST:

Now, Michelle and the minister were out there speaking with land holders this morning. They had to express their frustrations about meditation management and land clearing, [indistinct] burning – all those types of things and those land owners are also [indistinct] those walls as a result of those inner city raving lunatics. But do you think that their argument, I guess, would be that the lack of action on climate change is going to make these environmental emergencies more common?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, let's not forget that half the fires that happen around our countryside are caused by arsonists, let’s not discount that. But we've also had lightning strikes, we’ve had a very, very dry season, we've had a prolonged drought and that obviously doesn't help matters. We've had fires in this country since time began. We've got- luckily, we've got very brave men and women who are prepared to put their lives on the line to go and put them out. And I think it behoves people, wherever they are, to provide that help and perhaps even get out of the way stop making stupid comments when those people are trying to get in and put those fires out.

The fact is we will put these fires out as we always do, and when the fires are out, and when the dust settles, and when the ash settles more importantly, we can then perhaps look at what we can do better. Look at what we can do better as far as hazard reduction and fire breaks and the like. We can have the discussion about what might or might not have caused the fires, but now's not the time to do that. Let's put the fires out first.

JOURNALIST:

If now isn’t the time to have the discussion about- similar to, I guess, the gun control debate in the States after [indistinct], now is the time to [inaudible]…

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

[Interrupts] I don’t think you can compare this to gun control. I mean let's be honest, I mean, that's America, this is Australia. We're not going to be having a discussion about gun controls at Australian fires. The fact is we've got gun controls here – thanks to Tim Fisher, the late great Tim Fisher, we've actually put in place gun controls in. And the fact is we will put in better measures to ensure that fire prone communities are better prepared and better protected from fires in the future. But let's have that discussion when the fires are put out. Let's leave the full time and volunteer firefighters who are putting their lives on the line, let's leave them to doing the job that they're doing for and on behalf of Australia. And let's give them a bit of room to do just that instead of having this debate in the media about who's responsible, why it’s responsible and let’s have a bit of time for the Greens to actually come to a microphone – just like these ones – and say I'm sorry, I got it wrong.

JOURNALIST:

Deputy Prime Minister, you spoke a minute ago about stresses for firefighters. So a number of New South Wales fire chiefs have come out and said that they’ve had to wait months to meet with the Prime Minister to raise the possibility of getting extra aerial firefighting equipment. Is that the case?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, they were offered a meeting with Angus Taylor and I, as I understand that meeting, they declined. I know that they've been offered a meeting with David Littleproud, he stands just behind me, and they've accepted that meeting and I think Angus Taylor, as I understand, will also attend that meeting. Look we will- we will have discussions as a Government with the relevant authorities – we always are prepared to do that and we need to do that and we will do that.

JOURNALIST:

Regional Australians have been trying to cope with these natural disasters and now are having to deal with banking misconduct. Do you think that we can trust banks to keep their promises?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, there is a watchdog in place to make sure that banks keep, to do what they should be doing – we've put that in place. We had a royal commission. I think what we have seen, certainly through the drought, is a lot better behaviour from the banks and foreclosing farms when they are on their knees without mediation, without those sorts of things that did come out in the Royal Commission, hopefully, and thankfully as what we can see, is a thing of the past. Banks have been better behaved and certainly if they breach the guidelines set down by government and various officials such as ASIC and APRA and the ACCC, well, they'll be jumped upon, as they should.

JOURNALIST:

Do you think Anthony Albanese should be supporting the union integrity bill giving his own authority appears to be questioned weekend?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Oh, that’s a matter for Anthony Albanese, but the fact is Australians voted on 18 May for a government that they wanted to see in because of our economic policies, they wanted to see in for the future that we laid out for Australia. And the bills and the legislation we put before the Parliament, we do it for and on behalf of building a better Australia. And so learning the lessons from what happened on May 18, I think Anthony Albanese should support all our bills.

JOURNALIST:

Mr McCormack, just on Rookwood, can you give us an idea about whether the joint partnership has been finalised, and if not, when it will be signed off and when the federal money will start flying towards SunWater?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, we’re very close. And what I do want to see with Rookwood – and I know Michelle Landry stands just beside me, and Ken O’Dowd in his electorate, Rookwood, is – what we want to see following on from our May 2018 agreement, is a piece of infrastructure that is going to be fit for the future, and fit for purpose. What we don’t want to see is the Queensland Government downscaling in any way, shape, or form. We’ve had bureaucrats discuss it within the various departments. I've had the discussion with Anthony Lynham. We're very close to making sure that we can sign off on an agreed position, and what that will mean – we’ll be very close, very, very close to what we agreed upon in May 2018, when we invested $176.1 million towards that very important piece of infrastructure, a piece of infrastructure that's going to be not only for flood mitigation, but also to grow irrigated agriculture to make sure that we've got water security for the electorate of Capricornia, for the electorate of Flynn. This is an important piece of infrastructure, and part of our $1.5 billion water infrastructure plans that we've got in place right now.

We need to build the water infrastructure the region of Queensland needs. I’ve [indistinct] with Anthony Lynham, I'd like to think that we can work in good faith towards that, and of course David Littleproud stands beside me, is also very keen to see shovels in the ground for the Emu Swamp Dam project. So there's a number of water infrastructure projects right across Queensland. We're up for building them. We've invested heavily in them. We want to see work begin.

JOURNALIST:

But how quickly is the money going to flow towards Rookwood?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Our cheque’s good, our cheque’s good now. So as soon as Anthony Lynham comes to the party, as soon as they agree to a position that we've put to them, then we happy to see work begin. Aren’t we, Michelle?

JOURNALIST:

And just on- by extension, a lot of people are calling for a government to be doing [indistinct] stimulate the economy through infrastructure. Where is the money coming from [indistinct] federal government and [indistinct] Capricornia right now in the short term towards stimulating the structure [indistinct]?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, look, we’ve got roads, we’ve got highways and byways. We've got any number of community capacity building projects. We've got $100 billion right across the nation that we want to invest in now. But, of course, we've also got a constitution whereby we have to work with the states to deliver much of that infrastructure, so whether it's roads, whether it's rail, whether it's other community building capacity, often we do work with the states, and we need them to come on board. The Palaszczuk Government hasn't shown that it's very forward-thinking with some of the investments that they are stalling in regional Queensland, in particular. So I call on Queensland Government to do the right thing. We need to build better roads, we need to build better rail, and we need to build those community building infrastructure projects that we've promised that we want to deliver. And I might get Michelle to put some specifics on that as well.

MICHELLE LANDRY:

So currently under way we’ve got the road between Rockhampton and Gracemere, that’s an $80 million project. And we have waited three years for that to get going. The Northern Access Rockhampton - that is well underway, that's a $120 million project. Work is progressing on the Ring Road, we’ve put $65 million on the table for that, for planning and for resumption of land where people are in- you know, dire need to sell. Down here on the coast, we’ve put $64 million towards the Rockhampton and Yeppoon Road, and main roads are currently working on planning for that, which they are working with council on, as well as $21 million for the Stanage Bay Road, and significant money has been investment up at Shoalwater Bay. The Federal Government’s put over $160 million into that, as well as $1 billion from the Singapore Government. During the election, we also committed $20 million towards the Keppel Bay Sailing Club, and plans are progressing nicely for that.

So, there’s a lot of money on the table. Probably, unfortunately, some of these road projects, we’re still waiting on the state for planning on some of these, so that is a bit of a hold up. But we're pushing that as hard as we can. So there's a lot of money that's been invested in this area, and also the Art Gallery in Rockhampton is well under way also, and we've put $10 million on the table for that.

JOURNALIST:

Michael, just two questions for Canberra. Will the government bring more states to the tax relief plan?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, what we're doing is we're making sure that Australians keep more of money that they earn, so perhaps that would be more of a question for the Treasurer. But what we are doing is making sure that we've got both the tax rates for business in place – they’re paying now the lowest rate of tax for business, 27.5 per cent, they’ve made since 1940. So it’s a low for almost eight decades, an eight decade low for tax for businesses. And of course for private individuals, of course, they're paying also lower taxes under us than they ever would under a Labor-Greens alliance, and that's what they would have got on May 18 had they chosen the other way. But they put their votes and they put their faith in the Liberal-Nationals Government, which is delivering lower taxes for business, lower taxes for individuals.

JOURNALIST:

[Inaudible question relating to Bellamy]

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

So long as it’s got the right protocols and processes around it. And I know that part of the conditions are that they keep a headquarters in Launceston for the next decade. These Foreign Investment Review Board decisions aren’t taken lightly, and of course the Treasurer doesn't tick off on them without making sure he runs the ruler over them in a very, very strict fashion. And of course, there's a need for investment in Victorian dairy and in Victorian provisions for that particular sign-off by the Treasurer and by the Foreign Investment Review Board. So, having been given those strict criteria, and it’s up to the company to meet them, otherwise, the allowance for them to run that company will be taken away.

Thank you very much.

Shane Manning