NATALIE BARR, HOST: The New South Wales Government is today announcing a flood buyback scheme for the Northern Rivers region. In partnership with the Federal Government, around 20 homeowners in the most vulnerable locations will be eligible to raise, repair, retrofit or have their home voluntarily bought back. $800 million has been set aside for this program and eligible areas include Ballina, Byron, Clarence Valley, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed. Joining me now is the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Good morning to you. Tell us, who'll decide which homeowners are eligible for the scheme?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Nat. Well, it will be based upon the expert advice we now have unfortunately, a lot of real world experience in where the most vulnerable areas are. So this $800 million, $520 million shared between the Commonwealth and the state government will go towards buybacks. They'll also be grants of up to $100,000 to lift homes up, but also grants of up to $50,000 for retrofitting areas to provide greater protection. What we know is that these extreme weather events are more intense and unfortunately, they're more frequent as well. And the people of Lismore, where I am now, have been doing it really tough. I've been working constructively with the New South Wales government on this scheme and I think today's announcement really does provide a way forward. It also means better planning. We don't want to purchase homes and then have homes built back in the same place. Those sort of mistakes have been done in the past. What we're going to have is better planning, make sure we recognise that climate change is having an impact here in the Northern Rivers as well as other parts of Australia. And this is a good example of the Commonwealth, state and local government working together to make a real difference to people's lives.
BARR: Yeah, look, they really need it. But so many people would argue to residents along the Hawkesbury River, the Hawkesbury Nepean in Sydney. They've experienced three major floods in the past 18 months, thousands of homes, tens of thousands of people affected there. Will you do the same thing in that area?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, we'll examine proposals from state governments constructively, as we always do, Natalie. We have a responsibility to get this right. We need to stop development in floodplains, for a start. In some places it's still continuing and we need all state and territory governments as part of this exercise. When the National Cabinet next meets, we will be discussing how we make sure that we just get better planning. In too many of these areas we've had homes built in areas that are just inappropriate. I remember more than a decade ago in Charleville in Queensland, a regional town, having to have homes that were moved away from the river. We also have our $4 billion Disaster Ready Fund. It's about preparedness and mitigation, about better planning for things like levies and making sure that we do what we can to invest in advance. It's much better to get ahead of a problem than to wait for the disaster to hit and then the cost of it end up being even more.
BARR: And the problem is, I've been out there like you have. Plenty of these homes were bought, built 20, 30, 50 years ago, and the insurance was fine then. And now they can't even get insurance. So I'm sure that will be welcomed.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, exactly. People have done it so tough in this area. They've shown such courage and resilience. And today's announcement, I believe, will be really welcomed by all of these communities and we'll be making it in a short period of time.
BARR: Something that's not welcomed is your Budget by the Opposition, they're calling it a failure full of broken promises. That's what Peter Dutton said last night. Particularly, they seem to be stuck, which a lot of people are, on the $275 that you were going to save everyone on electricity prices. How do you respond to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I thought last night was the weakest budget reply that I've seen in my time in politics. It was Peter Dutton just stuck in the past, no plan for the future. It's the first budget reply I've seen where there were no new initiatives, no new policies. He went back to the Fraser Government, defended the Howard Government and then reannounced a policy from the Morrison Government that they had just a week before the election about raiding people’s super, even though at the time it was acknowledged that would actually lift house prices as well as damage people's retirement incomes. He had nothing to say about the future. And Peter Dutton is going to have to do a lot better than that. We had a budget on Tuesday night that fulfilled all of our commitments. Funding like this one we're announcing today was in the budget, providing real assistance, making real difference to real communities.
BARR: In Parliament yesterday, Prime Minister, a Coalition MP accused you of bullying her. After a fiery moment, Michelle Landry says she felt humiliated when you responded to her question about a road project in her electorate. The Member for Capricornia says she left Question Time in tears and is asking for a public apology. We'll take a listen to that.
PRIME MINISTER: [QUESTION TIME] Yeppen Floodplain. Yeppoon's a different place. Yeppoon is a different place. And you might want to ask the members of Capricornia, because Yeppoon is on the coast. On the coast north of Rockhampton, and Yeppen Floodplain is to the south. It’s the southern entry of the Bruce Highway into Rockhampton. Queenslander.
BARR: Prime Minister, was that robust debate or were you bullying her?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Nat, you would have had the vision. I can't see it there, but the vision that I've seen shows while I'm talking there, the member for Capricornia actually laughing at my joke, which was aimed at Peter Dutton, who interjected in me. He doesn't know his Yeppoon from his Yeppen, they're two different places. There was an exchange between myself and Peter Dutton, not the member for Capricornia who, as I pointed out in that footage that you just showed, would know the difference and does know the difference between the two places. If Peter Dutton is going to interject and yell across the chamber, as he does all the time while I'm attempting to answer a question, then I'll respond to the interjection when it's so poor, when he didn't know the difference between Yeppen Floodplain, which is the southern entry to Rockhampton on the Bruce Highway, and Yeppoon, that's up there on the coast from the north. So I think that the footage speaks for itself. The Speaker responded and said that there were no issues to be raised there.
BARR: Okay, Prime Minister, thank you for your time today.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Natt. Great to talk with you. And shout out to Marrickville Lawn Tennis Club there.
BARR: Yes, I know we're featuring your tennis club and they say they miss you. You're a bit busy nowadays.
PRIME MINISTER: It's a great little council-owned club where people just volunteer. It's a great example of a local community, that all pitch in. You can get two types of beer there, light or dark.
BARR: Okay. We won't talk about what you might need after a heavy day in Parliament. Thank you very much. Talk to you soon.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Nat.