Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended the Australian Defence Force's response during the floods in Northern NSW, saying troops have done an "amazing job".
Mr Morrison spent today touring the flood-affected town of Lismore, where he also announced he would declare a national emergency in response to the floods.
The Prime Minister also took the opportunity to defend the ADF's response during and after the floods, saying defence resources were assembled and ready before the floods took hold.
"In fact there were ADF saving people with helicopters, winching them off roofs on Monday, that was occurring.
"But in any natural disaster, everyone has a role to play and the suggestion that it is only the governments that are involved in an emergency response, I don't think the community would agree with that."
Extra funds for NSW towns
The emergency declaration gives the federal government power to deploy money and resources faster and is a legislative power that Mr Morrison sought after the 2019-2020 bushfire crisis.
Mr Morrison said he intended to ask the Governor-General on Friday to formally make the declaration, which would cover both NSW and Queensland.
"To make sure all emergency power is available and we cut through any red tape that might be faced," he said.
Mr Morrison said to make the declaration, both the NSW and Queensland premiers had to formally request it.
He said he had spoken to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and he would be meeting with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk later this week.
He also said residents in the Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Richmond Valley, Lismore and Clarence Valley would be able to access a further $2,000 for adults and $800 for children through an extension of the Disaster Recovery Payment scheme.
"While people in northern NSW aren't able to work, are still clearing out their homes and businesses, the extra two lots of $1,000 payments we're rolling out to eligible families and individuals will give them some certainty as they start to rebuild their lives," he said
The payments will automatically be made to anyone who has already claimed and received the payment in those three LGAs.
Mr Morrison said the cost was expected to be around $33 million and the national agency tasked with disaster recovery would monitor and decide the payment needs to be extended to any other LGAs in the future.
Other additional measures announced by the government include:
- $25 million to cover "emergency relief", food relief and financial counselling services
- $7.8 million for businesses in NSW and Qld affected by the floods
- Around $6.9 million for early childhood and child care services which have been closed for more than seven days
- $4.7 million to make sure primary health services can continue to operate in affected regions.
- $10 million to a mental health program for school-aged children in Northern NSW
- $31.2 million for mental health support services for affected communities in both states
- $5.4 million for legal services within affected communities
The federal government has been criticised for the pace and scale of its response to the floods.
The funding for the additional measures was approved by the federal government's expenditure review committee yesterday and was being described as significant.
Senior government figures including the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg have already estimated recovery costs in the billions of dollars.
Mr Frydenberg also announced the government would provide tax relief to affected communities, including giving additional time to businesses to meet their activity statement obligations.
Earlier, Shadow Emergency Response Minister Murray Watt backed a national emergency declaration, saying the NSW government had been overwhelmed by the disaster.
But he noted the funding would need to be generous and reflect the scale of destruction.
"If he turns up with a couple of hundred million dollars or something like that, it's just not going to do the job," Senator Watt said.
The NSW government has not yet declared a state of emergency — Mr Perrottet said yesterday it was deemed unnecessary to do so.
"The advice we have received is that is not necessary at this stage and it is something we discussed on a daily basis," Mr Perrottet said.
"We believe that the coordination that we have in place between the Commonwealth and the state and all of our agencies has the capacity to deal with the situation in front of us."
NSW SES commissioner Carlene York agreed yesterday that there was no need to declare a state of emergency at that stage.
But the Prime Minister's Office insisted the national emergency declaration was necessary to ensure nothing would stand in the way of flood assistance.
First time national emergency trigger has been pulled
The Prime Minister's national emergency declaration will suspend some red tape hurdles and allow financial assistance to be sent to communities faster.
The idea of declaring a national emergency emerged out of the royal commission into natural disasters in the wake of the Black Summer bushfires.
It suggested a national emergency would preferably be called early in a disaster, signalling to communities the seriousness of the incident and putting government agencies and defence forces on high alert.
The royal commission suggested the declaration "should be the catalyst for a more 'coherent, pre-emptive and expeditious' mobilisation of Australian government resources".
Though the federal government had the power to intervene earlier than today, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said NSW should have made the request for help sooner.
"[Defence Minister] Peter Dutton had the Defence Force personnel ready — and any asset that they wanted was ready at their disposal," Mr Littleproud said.
"This is a simple solution — this is about the states simply saying 'bring them in' sooner — and I think that's the lesson that the NSW government and other state governments need to learn and understand."
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who also plans to visit the region tomorrow, said he expected people would be angry at the government.
"I am fully aware of what I am about to walk into, and the Prime Minister, and other people," Mr Joyce said.
"You are not going to meet happy people. You are going to meet people whose lives have been turned upside down.
"They want to be heard and that's the main thing you do … you try your best to listen to them."
