The Queensland government has launched a million-dollar campaign encouraging interstate tradies to temporarily relocate to and help rebuild the flood-damaged southeast.
Demand for tradies in Queensland and NSW has skyrocketed after thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed by the deadly weather system.
Suncorp, the state's biggest insurer, described the scale of the disaster as enormous.
"It is much bigger than the floods of 2011," Suncorp's Ali Smith said on Thursday.
"We've already lodged 45,000 claims, 20,000 of those are for homes here in Queensland, and at the end of every claim number is a customer and a family and a home that's been impacted by the floods."
RACQ executive Mary-Jane Bellotti said there was an acute shortage of tradies and flood victims still face major delays.
"This is probably one of the biggest events we have seen," she said.
Almost 7000 homes were damaged, with 3600 now declared uninhabitable, acting premier Steven Miles said.
It has created a labour shortage, prompting the state government to unveil a campaign to lure tradies to head north and help with the rebuild.
Insterstate tradies could pocket $1750 to move to the Sunshine State to repair flood-damaged communities.
The Tradies in Paradise campaign is designed to boost the flood reconstruction efforts.
"The Palaszczuk Government is inviting up to 1000 tradespeople from interstate to join Queensland in restoring local homes and businesses after the recent flood disaster," Mr Miles said.
"The devastating flooding events have put skilled tradespeople in high demand and we need more boots on the ground to help communities get back on their feet as soon as possible."
Tradies of every speciality are desperately needed to fill the void but there's a catch.
They will have to undertake eight weeks of reconstruction work in one of the 19 eligible local government areas to earn the payment bonus.
"Tradies will also have access to a wide variety of information on areas such as sourcing accommodation and employment, licensing requirements and mutual recognition application and safety inductions," Minister for Training and Skills Development Di Farmer said.
