PRESENTER:
Malcolm Turnbull has called us – mate, good morning to you? How are you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’m good but how are you? How’s it looking in the aftermath?
PRESENTER:
Oh look, as far as looking it looks like a bomb has hit some areas in Mackay and The Whitsundays.
PRESENTER:
Not good, not good at all.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, right. Okay, well the ADF will be going in with the emergency service workers from Queensland.
I have just spoken to the Premier about it and we’ll have a better idea of what the damage is and what needs to be done. But the community is borne up with great resilience and we’ve been thinking about you and our prayers have been with you over that tough night.
PRESENTER:
How does it feel, and I, we see you on TV quite often when the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Debbie, which is now obviously ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie we have to clarify.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yep.
PRESENTER:
When coming close to the coast, we see people like Annastacia Palaszczuk on the television and as a leader of our state for herself and for you, the leader of our country, how does it make you feel knowing that this is going to affect one of your states? And you know, there is going to be people here who are going to potentially lose their life and property – that must be a pretty confronting thing for you as a Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it is and our hearts go out to the people of North Queensland.
But above all what we have to do is put in place the preparations to ensure that people get the right advice, that people are protected, that people are evacuated and that we have the servicemen and women, the ADF, the emergency service workers ready to go in as soon as the storm has passed to protect the community and begin the task of reconstruction.
And as you know we have Brigadier Chris Field has been appointed the recovery coordinator. He is the Commander of 3rd Brigade in Townsville.
So we are working very closely together and I think the Premier has, well I know the Premier has acknowledged this but the level of preparation and cooperation and engagement by the ADF is the highest it has ever been. So we are as from one natural disaster to another, from one cyclone to another, we are able to better anticipate it and better prepare for it. And that’s what we have done on this occasion.
PRESENTER:
Now, just on the economical side of things, The Whitsundays especially, it is a tourist town. You know, we have agriculture, at the same time the mines, but also tourism – have you looked at some sort of relief package there at the same time?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I have been discussing that with the Minister for Tourism and Trade, Steven Ciobo – who you know is a fellow Queenslander.
The most important thing we are going to need to do is obviously make sure that the damage is repaired but above all to get the message out – and George Christensen was making this point yesterday here in Canberra – to get the message out that the sun will be shining again, the resorts will be open again and people shouldn’t be cancelling their holidays. In fact, this is a good time, this will be a good time to come up and visit Queensland and The Whitsundays.
There is often a slump after an event like this that goes well beyond the period needed for recovery. So it is important we do everything we can to help Queensland tourism and indeed all agriculture as well. But tourism particularly because we’ve got to get that marketing message out. So yes we’ll be very much focused on that.
As I have said, I have spoken to the Premier this morning and I’ll be looking forward to speaking to her again in the course of the day and over the next few days.
PRESENTER:
It is going to be a pretty hard couple of days for a lot of residents around Mackay and The Whitsundays and we are not out of the woods yet.
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
PRESENTER:
We’ve still got some really damaging winds and rain this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
And can I just repeat the message that I know you will have been saying is please, stay safe. Take the advice of the emergency authorities.
Don’t go into flooded waters – don’t drive through them, walk through them, let alone try to swim through them. The flood is yet to peak, as you know, in Mackay. We’ve just been looking at some of the flood gauges at the Crisis Coordination Centre here in Canberra. But above all stay safe with flood waters and of course don’t go near any fallen power lines.
It is very important to stay safe. As you know, often many of the injuries associated with events like this occur after the storm has passed.
PRESENTER:
Malcolm Turnbull, thanks for joining this morning. Mate, appreciate the call.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ENDS]
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