NATALIE BARR, HOST: Well, for more we're joined live on the Gold Coast by Prime Minister Anthony, Albanese. Good morning to you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning.
BARR: Over the weekend you announced one off recovery payments for those seriously affected by this cyclone. Tell us how they're going to work.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have Disaster Relief Payments will kick in from two o'clock tomorrow afternoon. What that does is provide for 13 weeks or up to 13 weeks of pay, of full pay, for those who've lost income in the affected local government areas. There's 31 across New South Wales and Queensland who are unable to go to work because their businesses are shut or because of some of the road closures. Some people just can't get to work - that will consist for some time. So that will kick in from tomorrow afternoon at two o’clock. It will be available to make those applications. People can log on to the MyGov website to check their availability for that. We've already forwarded payments to local government, to the areas that have been impacted. I was with Mayor Tate at the Gold Coast Council Headquarters yesterday afternoon, as well as up in Logan. Those local government areas, their emergency response teams and volunteers, the SES, police and emergency services, they've been heroes during this period - they've worked around the clock. And importantly yesterday as well, I was able to go with Richard Marles and Jim Chalmers to thank the Australian Defence Force personnel at the Gallipoli Barracks there at Enoggera. They of course are the unit that have suffered from, they are family is the way they consider each other, with that terrible accident on Saturday evening. This morning, I can say that in relatively good news, there's still one person in hospital, a soldier, and we wish him a speedy recovery. But everyone else has been discharged from hospital and that is certainly good news.
BARR: Have you got his, sorry, have you got his condition? Because he had spinal injuries didn't he, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: He did. It is stable, Nat, and it's certainly not life threatening. But for privacy reasons, we'll respect that. But everyone else has been discharged from hospital. We certainly wish him and his family all the best over the coming period and we're very hopeful of a full recovery.
MATT SHIRVINGTON, HOST: PM, just looking at, there was a government review in 2023, wasn't there, which said the ADF is not structured to act as a domestic disaster recovery agency. How are you feeling about that right now?
PRIME MINISTER: What it said was, unless there was an emergency. I'll tell you what, behind me is an emergency. You've all seen the pictures. This was one where we needed to use every asset at our disposal. And yesterday when I was at the Barracks, thanking the fine men and women of the Australian Defence Force, you know what? They were so proud of what they are doing and they are right to be proud. They have vehicles and assets that just simply aren't available in civil infrastructure. The Gold Coast Council and Logan Council and Brisbane Council just don't have the sort of vehicles that have provided assistance. Richard Marles, our Defence Minister, travelled to Toowoomba to the Oakey Base yesterday as well. He's back with us. We'll be travelling to Northern New South Wales, just across the border shortly. And certainly those assets are vital for search and rescue, for making sure that we can really look after people. This has been a whole of Australia effort here. There's been no boundary here at the Tweed and there's certainly no politics. There's been a seamless operation. And thank goodness that the Government has established NEMA. The National Emergency Management Agency simply didn't exist when we came to office and they have provided that national coordination which has worked hand in hand with David Crisafulli's Government and Chris Minns’ Government and all of the mayors of the respective councils.
BARR: Look, I know 2022, there were like tens of thousands of houses flooded, but people waited years for insurance payouts. I know you said you're onto the insurance companies. We've just had David Koch say the insurance companies have plenty of money, they are ripping us off, they have put their premiums up double inflation. What do you say to that?
PRIME MINISTER: I say that Kochie is right and we will certainly hold the insurance companies to account. This is a time where they need to do a bit of repair of their relationships with the Australian public by doing the right thing and making payments immediately for people who are eligible. That's what people expect.
SHIRVINGTON: Prime Minister, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. And just a big thank you to all those people who are continuing to do work out there. And just a reminder, this issue has not passed. People need to continue to follow the advice of the authorities and stay safe.
BARR: Prime Minister, we thank you very much for your time today.