JUSTINE ELLIOT, MEMBER FOR RICHMOND: Well, great to be here today in Lennox. And of course wonderful to have our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, back on the north coast. And of course, the Prime Minister knows our area well, he knows the people here very well, we're really pleased that he's here again today.
STEWART BRASH, HOST: PM Anthony Albanese, good morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Great to be back in Alice.
MARION SCRYMGOUR, MEMBER FOR LINGIARI: I want to acknowledge and welcome, say thank you to the Arrernte people whose land we are standing on today. It's great to have the Prime Minister again in Alice Springs for the thirteenth time. I keep counting how many times the Prime Minister has come into Alice Springs. The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Lia Finocchiaro, Ebony and Dawn from Congress, but my important colleague from the member for Solomon from Darwin. So it is fantastic to have the Prime Minister here and the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory.
The Albanese and Northern Territory Governments, together with the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory (APO NT), have signed a landmark Partnership Agreement to strengthen service delivery in remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory.
The Albanese Government will commit $842.6 million over 6 years to deliver the Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment (NTRAI).
The funding will:
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is one of the occasions where I won't begin by saying that I'm glad to be here, because I wish this wasn't happening. But at the worst of times, what we see is the best of the Australian character. And here what we see is Queenslanders, whether they be emergency services personnel, whether it be our police and fire services, the volunteers through the SES, and of course our Australian Defence Force personnel – particularly those based at the barracks here in Townsville – but right throughout Australia.
An $8 million Community Relief Fund, jointly funded by the Albanese and Crisafulli Governments, is now available to councils impacted by flooding and severe weather, to allow them to kick off essential and immediate recovery activities.
Funding of up to $1 million per Local Government Area is available for Burdekin, Cassowary Coast, Charters Towers, Hinchinbrook, Palm Island, Townsville, Whitsunday and Yarrabah Councils.
The Albanese Government is activating additional financial support for communities directly affected by the recent floods in North Queensland through the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP).
The AGDRP offers residents $1,000 per eligible adult and $400 per eligible child for people who suffered serious damage or injury as a result of the floods, to help with the costs of recovery.
MICHAEL CLARKE, HOST: Now, of course, we've seen a lot of people coming to the region in the recent days to help out. We've had the Premier on the ground in both Townsville and Ingham. And this morning the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is in the region as well and is with us now. Prime Minister, thank you for your time and thanks for coming to North Queensland.
PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: We'll stay in Townsville because the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, he's there and he joins us live now. PM, I've got a thousand questions to ask you but you are on the ground there. Help has been announced as we just heard from Lauren. But as you know with natural disasters, more problems emerge weeks, months later. So firstly, how would you describe things?
MATT SHIRVINGTON, HOST: Let's bring in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese live in Townsville. Thanks for joining us, PM. So we're expecting more rain. We can hear it behind you. Actually what's being done to help Queenslanders?