LORETTA RYAN, HOST: Well, you are a mighty Queenslander, Billy Moore. Billy Moore, we've just had the Prime Minister walk into the studio and I'm sure –

BILLY MOORE, FORMER NRL PLAYER: Ah –

RYAN: Yes, he is a Blues supporter. And he was at the stadium last night, Prime Minister.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I was, and I've got to tell you Billy, that the ABC presenters here are both wearing blue.

RENEE COFFEY, MEMBER FOR GRIFFITH: Welcome to beautiful Brisbane on the south side in the seat of Griffith. It’s lovely to have you all here. It is my absolute pleasure to welcome the Prime Minister here to Queensland on what is a great day for Queenslanders, and what will hopefully be a fantastic evening for Queenslanders as well. So without further ado, it’s my absolute pleasure to introduce the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese.

CLAIRE PONTIN, MID COAST COUNCIL MAYOR: Hi everybody, I'm Claire Pontin, Mayor of Mid Coast. I want to thank the Prime Minister and these wonderful people behind me, the Ministers, and I'll introduce them shortly, for taking the time to come to the Mid Coast to actually see firsthand the devastation that people in this area have been suffering. It is totally overwhelming for everybody, and we're just so thankful that we're getting the help that we need to turn this around and actually get moving in a strong way for recovery.

The Albanese Government is expanding financial assistance for communities in the New South Wales Hunter and Mid North Coast regions impacted by the devastating floods – activating the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP) and extending the Disaster Recovery Allowance (DRA).

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the first meeting of the new Cabinet of this Parliament. We had a full Ministry meeting after the inauguration there at Government House and this Cabinet has a big job to do. Last Friday, I was there on the upper Hunter, looking and talking with some of the heroes. Our SES volunteers, people from marine rescue, other places, helping their fellow Australians.

JOE BUFFONE, NEMA DEPUTY COORDINATOR-GENERAL: Good morning all. My name's Joe Buffone. I'm one of the Deputy Coordinator-Generals here at NEMA. We've just briefed the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Emergency Management on the current situation. Pretty much, the focus at the moment is now currently on a severe cold front that's coming through South Australia, through Victoria, impacting on eastern and southern New South Wales. The main focus there is about wind, and the concern is about many trees going down.

The Albanese Government is standing with communities impacted by devastating floods in the Hunter and Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, with further support activated to help people get back on their feet.

From Tuesday 27th May, Australian Defence Force personnel alongside members of Disaster Relief Australia will be deployed to support New South Wales authorities with clearance, clean up and early recovery operations.

CHRIS MINNS, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Thanks, everybody, for being here. It's important that you're here this afternoon. Very appreciative to have the Prime Minister alongside Commissioner Wassing, Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib, local MPs, federal MPs, to talk about the devastation over the last three days. A couple of things I'd like to say. Firstly, the weather that has brought such devastation and enormous anxiety to the local community is moving south, which is good news. However, we need to report that there are still 39 emergency warnings still in place.

FIONA POOLE, HOST: The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, joins us now. Prime Minister, thanks for being with us.

MARK LEVY, HOST: Let's catch up with the Prime Minister. Right now, as I've mentioned, he's on his way to the flood affected areas of the Mid North Coast. He's on the line right now. Prime Minister, good morning to you.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: G' day, Mark. Good to be with you but sorry about the circumstances. I understand you just spoke to the Premier. I'm just waiting where we're about to meet up in a short period of time before we travel together to go to Taree.