EMMA ROBELLATO, HOST: I am very pleased to say Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Cairns this morning and he joins us now on ABC News Breakfast. Prime Minister, thanks for joining us this morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Emma.
ROBELLATO: Well, you've seen a lot of the pictures like we all have at a Far North Queensland. You've had the briefings. What are you expecting to see on the ground today?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll be firstly meeting with emergency service workers and volunteers. We're having a breakfast barbecue with the Premier here to chat with them and just thank them. We'll then be meeting with communities going to the beaches to the north here that have been really impacted, like Holloways and seeing for myself on the ground what's happening. We'll be meeting with people from local government, from the tourism sector here. We'll be announcing further support today. A package on top of what we're providing for individuals, a package of support for primary producers, one for small business and not for profit organisations, support for each of the nine local government areas. And in addition to that, a tourism recovery package. It is vital if your listeners and viewers have booked a trip to Far North Queensland, that they take it up, that they don't cancel. It is critical from the tourism sector. I heard last night here that they are concerned about the number of cancellations that are occurring because that will just mean that the impact of the floods is multiplied for the economies here in the Far North.
ROBELLATO: Yeah, we have heard that $125 million in cancelled bookings since these floods happened. But how much is this package worth for, as you mentioned, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, and how long will that go for?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there are separate packages for each, and there's an initial package, for example, $25 million for primary producers, $25 million for small business. Each of the local government areas will receive an additional, on top of the other grants that will be there, just a $1 million top up payment because of the additional costs that they're having. And in addition to that, tourism recovery, $5 million for advertising and to get out there and get the message around to Australia, but also overseas if need be as well. We'll look at making sure we get that message, that people can still come to this beautiful part of Australia. The floodwaters are of course receding. We need to make sure that we minimise the impact. Already there's been an extraordinary effort. The Bruce Highway was opened on Tuesday, which is quite incredible that that was able to be achieved, but there'll be a lot of work prioritised to make sure people can get across the range up onto the Tablelands as well. That's vital for freight and for the economies here as well, so that people can get their goods to market. The airport, of course, is operating fully now, which is why we're able to come here. And part of what I'm here with the Queensland Premier, Steven Miles, to do as well is to listen to what further support can occur. We've got four government offices operating in the region where people can go in and get that assistance, here in Cairns and Mossman and other parts of the region, we want to make sure that people get every support that they need.
ROBELLATO: Well, speaking of support, Prime Minister, we've heard from a lot of the emergency services crews who say the fatigue is really setting in. Now, this is only sort of mid-late December. We're seeing emergencies in WA. What's happening in Far North Queensland? How will you manage that fatigue over the coming weeks and months when these disasters continue to unfold seemingly at a faster pace?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we know it's going to be a difficult summer. That's why we had, through NEMA, the National Emergency Management Agency, a forum held in Canberra in Parliament House three months ago, where we got together all of the state and territory agencies and operators to make sure that they could get that coordination and planning in place. That's never been done before. We know we have terrible fires in Western Australia. We had the floods here in Far North Queensland. And for NEMA, for the national agency, but also for emergency services, it's something they're very conscious of as well. When I attended the meeting of the coordination body there in Brisbane with the Premier and all of the ministers on Tuesday was something that the agencies were very conscious of making sure that people can be rotated out. That's one of the reasons why we've provided such substantial support from the Australian Defence Force as well.
ROBELLATO: Prime Minister, I want to ask you about the criticism that a lot of people are continuing to talk about, particularly in Queensland, about the alert system and the warnings. There's been a lot of anger about the lack of warnings from the Bureau. Did the national emergency alert system fail residents there?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this was an unprecedented event and the Bureau of Meteorology were warning about the impact of this cyclone as it formed off the coast. There wasn't anticipated to be the level of rain essentially. When you had, in some places, a year's rainfall in a single day, has had an extraordinary impact. And it's something that after every single disaster, there's always an assessment about what could be done better. But there were issues of getting information with some of the telecommunications going out, but we have done everything, including there was door to door door knocking, literally, by emergency services personnel as well. And that certainly came through at the meeting that I attended on Tuesday. But of course, if any lessons can be learnt, they will be. But meteorology and these predictions is, of course, a science, but it's not a perfect science. Mother nature has an impact and it certainly has had an impact here.
ROBELLATO: Prime Minister, while I have you, I want to ask you about the situation, the breaking news that we've had overnight about what's happened in the Czech Republic. Do you know if any Australians have been caught up in that mass shooting there?
PRIME MINISTER: At this stage, we have no information that any Australians are caught up, but the Department of Foreign Affairs have established a hotline that people can call - 1300 555 135. If people are concerned about family or friends who might live in Prague, they might have relatives there, or of course, they might have people who are visiting Prague. It's such a wonderful city, particularly at this time of the year. Many people will spend a Christmas in a beautiful city like Prague. And this tragedy which has unfolded overnight our time has of course been terrible scenes there in such a wonderful city.
ROBELLATO: Prime Minister, thank you very much for joining us this morning from Cairns and wishing you a merry Christmas.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Emma, and a merry Christmas to you and all the ABC viewers.