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?
DAVID CAMPBELL, HOST: Prime Minister, we know we're going to speak to you about Far North Queensland in a second, but we just wanted to touch on Prague, this horrible situation that's unfolded. What assistance is available to Aussies who might be caught up in the Prague situation?
MATT SHIRVINGTON, HOST: The Prime Minister is touring flood ravaged Queensland today and he joins us now from Cairns. Thank you PM for joining us. Before we get to the floods, can I ask you about the awful scenes coming out of Prague. What assistance, if any, is Australia making to those involved, particularly Australians caught up in this?
LAURA TINGLE, HOST: Prime Minister, welcome to 7:30.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be here, Laura.
TINGLE: 2023 began with you responding to floods in South Australia and finishes with the extraordinary flooding in Far North Queensland. Labor promised it was going to upgrade and improve Australia's emergency funding and management responses and not be so reliant on the defence forces. Where is that up to?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: I am absolutely delighted to host Prime Minister Luxon here in Australia on your first official overseas visit as New Zealand's Prime Minister. I congratulate, once again, Chris on his election as Prime Minister. Australia and New Zealand, of course, share history, geography, values, and a common strategic outlook, and our relationship has never been more important.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister, welcome to Australia for your first official visit. We, of course, have met many times here in Australia, and also in New Zealand and a very warm welcome to you. The relationship between our two nations is a relationship of friends and partners. And that of course, this year, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of our closer economic agreement. And what we see is the interaction on a personal level of friendship, the relationship.
It’s a great honour to have been invited to deliver the annual Lowy Lecture.
The Lowy Institute has been an important part of our national discourse for 20 years.
It is a great gift to Australia from Sir Frank Lowy, a man who has found so many ways to add to the fabric of our nation.
Sir Frank’s story is an extraordinary one. A story that began on the other side of the world, and became a quintessentially Australian one.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s good to be here in Queensland, although the circumstances are of course unfortunate. But I do want to begin by congratulating the new Premier of Queensland, Steven Miles, and to say that we've had a really good strong working relationship over a long period of time and I look forward to working with him in the interests of Queenslanders and in the interests of the nation going forward.
The Albanese Government is delivering additional financial support for people directly impacted by the devastating floods in Far North Queensland.
From 2pm AEST, Wednesday 20 December, applications for the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP) and Disaster Recovery Allowance (DRA) will open for people who live and work in the Cairns, Cassowary Coast, Cook, Douglas, Hope Vale, Mareeba, Tablelands, Wujal Wujal and Yarrabah Local Government Areas (LGAs):
JESS WINDOW, HOST: Good morning, Prime Minister. Jess speaking.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: G'day, Jess. Anthony Albanese here.
WINDOW: How you doing? Great to hear from you. I spoke to you many times, but before you were the big PM.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, that's right.