Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his response to catastrophic flooding on the New South Wales Mid North Coast while visiting the devastated region.
Mr Albanese on Tuesday travelled to Taree which was hit with record flooding last week when the Manning River surpassed six metres.
His trip to the flood-affected community came a day after he announced in Canberra that dozens of ADF personnel would be deployed to assist with the clean-up.
It was the first time Mr Albanese had visited Taree since the flooding reached record levels last Wednesday, after earlier visiting Maitland in the Hunter Valley on Friday.
During a press conference in Taree, Mr Albanese was confronted with claims that some residents felt the ADF deployment and his visit had come a little too late.
“I was on the ground in this region on Friday. I was on the ground here, I’m here again today,” the Prime Minister said.
“My minister has been here non-stop, has been here the entire time, the Minister for Emergency Management.
“The Australian Defence Force, I saw in the main street of Taree. They’re working, they’re on the ground here, 70 of them. A hundred DRA (Disaster Relief Australia).
“The Australian Defence Force personnel that I’ve met have come from Coffs Harbour, have come from Queensland, have come from different parts of NSW (and) nationally.
“They’ve been deployed upon the request. We had Australian Defence Force in the air through choppers rescuing people. The priority last week was rescuing the extraordinary number of people who needed to be rescued.”
Mr Albanese met with a number of impacted residents while in the area on Tuesday, including a man who had been on his farm for more than seven decades and had lost stock.
“The devastation that we have witnessed firsthand is being only exceeded by the extraordinary resilience that these Australians are showing. And I just take my hat off to them, they have been quite remarkable,” he said.
“It is a point that whilst there are people who are directly affected here, every Australian is affected as well by the fact that we’ve had a loss of dairy industries that will have an impact right throughout Australia and right throughout the economic impact here as well.
“But the human impact we must remember first and foremost. The loss of five lives through these devastating floods, but the extraordinary hardship that people have gone through.
“People have spoken about the 2021 floods and how that had a devastating impact, but they thought that would be the peak. Well, this flood has been far worse and the impact has been far more severe.”
The Prime Minister further announced the government was activating its disaster recovery payment for nine local government areas – Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Dungog, Kempsey, Maitland, Mid Coast, Nambucca Valley, Port Macquarie-Hastings and Port Stephens.
Affected residents will be able to access the payments – a one-off amount of $1,000 for eligible adults and $400 for eligible children – from 2pm on Wednesday.
“This payment helps people who have suffered the most serious impacts, including major damage to their home or serious injury or loss of a loved one as a result of severe weather,” Mr Albanese said.
The Disaster Recovery Allowance which provides “for up to 13 weeks of income support from people who can’t attend their work as employees or people who are self-employed and are unable to earn an income” will also be made available to more residents.
“We’re extending that to all 19 local government areas that had previously been subject to support from the government. This will be available from 2pm tomorrow,” Mr Albanese said.
“That comes on top of the four local government areas including Mid Coast, Port Macquarie, Hastings, Kempsey and Dungog that had previously been subject to allow this support.
“This… comes on top of the support that is already rolling out, including Personal Hardship payments – $180 for eligible adults and up to $900 per family – in the 19 affected local government areas.”
