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Transcript

9 March 2010

Interview with Michael Smith, 4BC Radio

E&OE PROOF ONLY

SUBJECTS: South West Queensland floods, Commonwealth Government assistance for flood victims

MICHAEL SMITH: Chris Bowen is the Minister for Financial Services and Human Services amongst other things; he has got a range of responsibilities. Today he is out at St George personally inspecting the flood damage, Minister G’day.

CHRIS BOWEN: G’day Michael how are you?

SMITH: Not bad, what have you seen?

BOWEN: Well I’m standing at the moment on the edge of the Balonne River, it wouldn’t normally be the edge of the river but it is at the moment, it’s a pretty amazing scene. We’ve been out to Charleville earlier in the day and then St George today. I wasn’t expecting the degree of damage, I’m really impressed by the degree of resilience in the community and the speed of the recovery in Charleville, in particular, where the water has receded of course hasn’t in St George as yet.

SMITH: You don’t know Queenslanders Chris.

BOWEN: [Laughter] Well, Queenslanders, Australians, call it what you will, but it’s really encouraging and good to see.

SMTH: Barnaby Joyce put a lovely note out today I thought just paying tribute to you and Joe Ludwig for getting out there and seeing it yourselves.

BOWEN: Yeah, it was nice of him, we have our differences but as he said this is not a time or place for politics, this is just about pulling together. I’ve meet with Barnaby, he met us at the airport which was nice of him. Joe Ludwig is here with me, the Special Minister of State and of course the Queensland Senator and what’s been really encouraging has been the Federal Government, Centrelink and other agencies, State Government agencies, the Department of Communities, local Councils, all through the affected area and the organisations like the Red Cross and Lifeline, have just come together as one and it's been really good to see.

SMITH: What assistance is available for Queenslanders who’ve had their homes inundated?

BOWEN: There’s a couple of things Mike, we have actually activated what’s called the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Program Payments. That means a payment of $1,000 for each household and $400 for each child where the house has been affected or there has been significant damage or they’ve been injured.  

Also today the Prime Minister and Premier have announced joint grants to small businesses and primary producers, two different programs, under one program grants of up to $5,000, under another program grants of up to $20,000 for people who’ve suffered damage to their business in the affected areas and that’s a very real issue in Charleville today and also in St George. I’ve seen some shocking damage to business and it’s just a really good way to help people get back on their feet.

SMITH: Chris there is no doubt the Premier and the local Councils will have their hands out for Government assistance to get infrastructure like rail tracks and roads sorted.

BOWEN: We have a program in place, it’s called the National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangement which kicks in, if you like automatically where local Councils receive that assistance.

SMITH: Do you have a sense for how much that is?

BOWEN: A lot of it is still under water Mike, it will be very significant, but it’s hard while so much is under water to get a meaningful figure.

SMITH: Yep sure, thanks very much for you time this afternoon Minister.

BOWEN: Always nice to come on. Thanks Mike.

ENDS