MICHAEL CLARKE, HOST: Now, of course, we've seen a lot of people coming to the region in the recent days to help out. We've had the Premier on the ground in both Townsville and Ingham. And this morning the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is in the region as well and is with us now. Prime Minister, thank you for your time and thanks for coming to North Queensland.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Difficult time for North Queenslanders, but I know the part of the character of people up here is that they are so tough, but it's very difficult. I did some interviews in torrential rain earlier this morning and I just heard the report that you made about buses being out today. I'm on my way to the Disaster Management Centre to get a briefing. I met with the Premier Crisafulli, last night. We're making sure that we have a seamless operation between the Commonwealth, state government and local government.
CLARKE: Now, when we have people such as yourself come to town, often, we're hoping that there comes news of assistance for the community. What help can you talk to us about today?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've already triggered income support. My Minister for Emergency Management, Jenny McAllister, has been on the ground here all week. We – last night I signed off on support for the eight local government areas that have been impacted by this flooding. Today I'll travel with the Premier down to look at the bridge that's been taken out there over the Ollera Creek and we want to make sure, as well – one of the things I discussed with the Premier last night was making sure that we build back better. We don't just build the same, which is, there used to be a system in place where a bridge or a structure had been knocked out and you just build it back the same way. That is quite frankly madness. We need to make sure that we build in resilience and we'll be doing that –
CLARKE: That will be music to the ears of the Mayor of Ingham, actually, that you say that, Prime Minister, because we were speaking to him just a few hours ago and that was one of his key points, that he really wanted to make sure that government have a betterment program rather than just replacing what has washed away or been ruined. We get something better. And that's your message today, which is good to hear.
PRIME MINISTER: Exactly. Years ago, when I was the Minister, we had an issue. I dealt with Bob Katter, who is the local Member there for Ingham, of course, and over the Einasleigh River, used to get knocked out every time there was a flooding event and Normanton and Kurumba there and the Gulf would get cut off. It's the same principle, we build it back, and as a result, those communities have been more resilient. You can't ever guarantee perfection. What you can do, though, is use a bit of common sense. And one of the things about mayors that I’ve found over the years, as Local Government Minister previously – and David Crisafulli was a Local Government Minister as well in the state – is that local people know what's needed on the ground. And that's one of the reasons why I personally have come here to hear from locals on the ground about what they need and whether it's myself or the Queensland Premier, we want to provide whatever is necessary.
CLARKE: Are you hopeful to get to Ingham today?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we will wait and see what the itinerary is. As I said, I'm on my way to get the briefing now. The itinerary is a bit of a moving feast. I will certainly go down and have a look at that the bridge that's been knocked out this morning, because I've seen photos of it and quite clearly, it was too low. You can see that that was the case. So, we'll be visiting that this morning. We'll be talking with the people who've been providing that support on the ground. But just a shout out to all – not just the emergency management workers, the volunteers, but neighbour helping neighbour here. This is once again an example that at the worst of times, we do see the best of the Australian character and we are seeing that played out at what is a very difficult time for people in the region. We still have thousands of people without power supply.
CLARKE: Of course, when we see, when you have a look at the bridge yourself, you'll see just how extraordinary it is, but also the extraordinary plan to maybe get something in place so that these emergency services can get into Ingham. I mean, it's such an extraordinary challenge, isn't it, when you've got a cut on the Bruce Highway like this and we need to get a temporary fix?
PRIME MINISTER: It sure is. But the ADF for helping with that temporary fix and that's necessary. Of course, there are limits on – there'll be weight limits on that, which will mean there's an ongoing issue. But as well, we have choppers, of course, have come, not just those based in Townsville, but a couple flew up from the Oakey base as well. And in addition to that, something that I thought was really a great indication of friendship, Singapore has made available two Chinooks that were here in North Queensland for training. So, that's been really positive and we very much thank the Government of Singapore for that.
CLARKE: That is great to hear even international support to our community, which is lovely to talk about. I know you're busy, you've got places to go. I guess as a final point, this really underlines something you've been talking about recently, the condition of the Bruce Highway in Queensland, but particularly in North Queensland. It is just so very vital that we make sure that it's reliable.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. The first announcement I made of this year was $7.2 billion. Last time we were in government, I increased funding for the Bruce Highway six fold in half the time compared with the Howard Government. I know that when we announced that as well, we spoke about the priority areas that included Ingham to Innisfail and a range of areas that were, absolutely, have been identified as major problems. I drove the length of the Bruce on three occasions, or one of them was from the west, from Barcaldine across to Rocky and then down, but twice from Cairns, down the length of the Bruce, down to Brisbane when the pandemic was on as Labor Leader. So, I saw firsthand that some of the Bruce – terrific. The work that was done when I was a Minister, in Cooroy to Curra, and a range of the entrances around Rocky, the Townsville ring road, of course, has been terrific here. But there's so much more work that we need to get done to bring it up to scratch. And that's why we've made this record funding commitment, because I understand how important this piece of infrastructure is. I'm a bit of an infrastructure nerd, I've got to say, so I am very proud that we've made that announcement. It can't come too soon.
CLARKE: Well, just as we've been talking there with you, Prime Minister, we have had someone texting in, just saying with the money that becomes available to help people, they know of one case where they're getting knocked back because of their income, saying she's got a niece that's lost everything but got knocked back yesterday. Is there anything we can do to make sure that everyone gets assistance here?
PRIME MINISTER: Look what they should do – we have an Australian Government Information Line – 1800 076 072. That is an express line that we have set up. I'd encourage them to ring that number and to, I would hope, get the support that they need. We want to make sure that everyone who needs that assistance gets it.
CLARKE: Indeed, just that number again, Prime Minister, before we let you go.
PRIME MINISTER: Is, 1800 076 072. And the other thing that people can do is check on eligibility, the Services Australia website is servicesaustralia.gov.au/disastersupport.
CLARKE: We really appreciate your time this morning. Got a busy day in the North and we thank you for coming.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much.