MR ADRIAN SCHRINNER, LORD MAYOR OF BRISBANE: Good morning, everyone. It’s been good to have the Prime Minister here today. We’ve just been through our local Disaster Coordination Centre here in Brisbane Square, to update him on the situation. It’s very timely that he’s with us because we’ve just been through the flood. We have had a BOM prediction late last night that there would be a flood peak of four metres. What we’ve seen is slightly below that, which is a great thing, but we had a rapidly changing situation last night. BOM advice started off at 3.4 metres and then shortly after with 3.7 metres and then finally to 4 metres. And that’s just because of the sheer amount of rain coming down last night. So we’ve seen the rain stopped in most parts of Brisbane. That is a positive thing. But my key message to the people of Brisbane is that we are not out of the woods yet. Floodwaters will rise again tonight after the peak this morning. We will see another peak tonight that will be around 8pm. Current projections is for that peak to be 3.5 metres. So still a significant flood. 3.5 is classed as a major flood, so you will see another major flood coming through tonight. So please to the people of Brisbane, stay at home wherever possible. Now is not the time to be out and about across the city. There are a lot of areas across Brisbane that have been impacted and are emergency service personnel and essential workers need to be getting out there and moving around the city freely. If there’s too much traffic on the road from people, you know, by just looking around seeing what’s going on that impedes the work of our essential workers in emergency service personnel, so please stay at home, stay safe.
For those who are in a situation where their properties were inundated this morning or for those who are fearful about tonight, definitely continue to use your instincts. If your instincts are telling you that you’re unsafe and you need to evacuate, listen to those instincts. Look for opportunities to stay with friends and family. Also, our evacuation centres are available. We have two evacuation centres up and running. They are in different parts of the city and there’s capacity in those evacuation centres. We have approaching 300 people in those centres right now. There is room for more. If you are in any danger, call 000. If you need SES support, there’s a number there to call for the SES. We’ve continued to do rescues, both police, fire and emergency services. And also, SES, there have been many people rescued in and saved this morning during the peak, and we’re expect that will happen again tonight as well.
Overall, I want to thank the people of Brisbane for their resilience at this particularly challenging time. We have been through worse than this before. We know that there are also many parts of Brisbane that weren’t affected in previous floods that have been affected this time, and we’re going to be activating right across the city, the Mud Army 2.0. The new Mud Army will be activated in the coming days. At the moment, our priority is to make sure that we get through this dangerous flooding point. But once it’s safe to go out, once it’s safe for people to go out and help, we’ll be coordinating the new Mud Army. That is a key priority for us going forward. We know there’s a massive amount of goodwill in the community and people that want to help out with those who are in need and those that have suffered, and we will make sure we can coordinate a city wide effort to support this cleanup. The key priority will be getting those flood damaged items out onto the kerb and then taken away, so there’ll be great opportunities for people to help out across the city. And we thank you to the people of Brisbane for your interest in helping out. Right now, though, key priority is stay at home wherever possible. Stay safe if you are in a flooding area, use your instincts to evacuate. Come to one of our emergency evacuation centres or stay with friends and family.
Final thing I want to say as well is that this situation a lot of people have asked how it compares to previous floods and events, how it compares to 2011. It is a very different thing. First of all, in 2011, as we saw the flood was rising, it was very dry in many parts of Brisbane. The rain had stopped and the floodwaters didn’t rise until many, many days after the rain has stopped. We saw a different situation now. We’ve also seen lots of creek flooding and overland flow flooding as well. So you’ve had every type of flooding happening at once. In 2011, it was only river flooding that happened. So we’ve had almost the perfect storm with this rain bomb that has come down, flooding increase, overland flow and also river flooding all at the same time. So this is a very unprecedented situation in terms of the management of different authorities in the dams. We’ve been watching very carefully and I can say I believe they have done it exactly by the manual. They’ve done it exactly by the book from what I’ve seen. They’ve released the water only to coincide with the low tides, and we haven’t seen any dam releases adding to the high tides, which has been a really positive thing. There will continue to need to be dam releases over the coming days. They need to get those dam levels down. We don’t know whether there will be any more rain. They need to make preparations in case there is. So that’s the next phase as well. Obviously, we’re all happy that the rain has subsided, but we don’t know whether there’ll be any more rain, so we’re preparing for that eventuality as well. I’m going to hand over now to the Prime Minister. Once again. I’m grateful that he’s managed to come here to visit us and to show his support. And I know he’s got some important announcements as well.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Adrian. I’m very glad I’ve been able to be here, of course yesterday and today. The sheer impact of what is an extraordinary weather event. It has to be seem. And to have seen that over the last almost 24 hours, I think has been very helpful for our response. The response of the Australian Defence Forces, the response of the Emergency Management Authority, I was here with, Bridget McKenzie yesterday. This weather event of course, is impacted severely on the city of Brisbane, but it has for all the way up to the Bundaberg, all the way down toward Toowoomba, Ipswich, Logan we’re seeing serious flood events occurring down in the Gold Coast as part of south east Queensland. And we are seeing a terrible flood of events in Lismore in Northern New South Wales. I’ve spoken to Premier Perrottet on several occasions this morning. We have activated our defence support there. Our discussions, as I mentioned very early this morning, our Defence Force were activated. Over 200 ADF deployed to assist with helicopter support is on its way. It should be arriving soon in Lismore to assist with what are very serious evacuations. So this weather event has had imposed a heavy blow on south east Queensland and it is now moving south and will ultimately be impacting on the south coast of New South Wales later this week. So I want to join with the Lord Mayor in thanking everyone in south east Queensland and particularly the people of Brisbane. I want to thank you too Adrian for the great leadership you’ve shown here working closely with the state government and I thank them for all their efforts as well, I’ve just come from an operations room where everyone’s working together, taking calls, solving problems, dealing with the immediate response. They’re highly professional in what they do, and they have one focus to keep you safe and to ensure that the city of Brisbane can recover quickly.
To assist that today, we are announcing that we will be extending the Australian Government’s discovery disaster recovery payment to the following local government areas. Brisbane City, Fraser Coast, Gold Coast, Gympie, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Logan, Moreton Bay, Noosa, North Burnett, Redland City, Scenic Rim, Somerset, South Burnett, Southern Downs, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and local government areas in and around the Lismore in the city of Lismore. Now this is a disaster recovery payments for eligible people who have been directly impacted by the floods. $1000 per eligible adult. And $400 per eligible child. That is provided 100 per cent by the federal government. And you can access that support through the Services Australia Disaster Assistance Phone Line on 180 22 66. And you can also do it online, and you can do that through by visiting the ServicesAustralia.gov.au/disaster. These payments are there to provide for some of the most basic things that people have been impacted by flooding, such as this. They are the same payments that we provide in other natural disasters with cyclones and bushfires and things of that nature. And Services Australia is set up to support those applications.
All of the areas I mentioned, other Gympie and North Burnett, they will be available from tomorrow and you’ll be able to call tomorrow to make your applications for that support if that’s what you require. Right now we’ve been focusing on Gympie and North Burnett, which was the two local government areas that were activated earlier, in addition to that, this also extends the disaster recovery allowance. Which is a payment for up to 13 weeks for those that have a loss of income as a result of this disaster. That’s, I believe will be particularly useful for small businesses who will be unable to earn and income because of the need to engage in the recovery and the clean up, which would prevent them from trading and that will impact their business. This has always proved to be a very helpful payment to help people through what is a very difficult time and I share a great concern for the small business community right across south-east Queensland, particularly for Brisbane. They’ve had to deal with a lot, pandemics and floods, and we really want to work with them to help them get through this. I welcome the Lord Mayor’s announcement as general of the Mud Army 2.0 here in Brisbane. That was one of the most inspiring things to see after the last terrible flood of the sort here in Brisbane. There have been many lessons from those last floods and we were talking today about the sort of backwash mechanisms that were put in place that have proven to be very effective in managing what is not just one flood event, but three combined together which makes this a very challenging situation.
And so, you know, a lot of the lessons from those plans are being implemented here in Brisbane, and we will be supporting those efforts through the Defence Forces. I’ll be meeting with some of the local defence forces here this morning. Be talking about their planning and preparations for how they could assist with that recovery and cleanup effort. But right now, the crisis has not yet passed. There may be glimpses of sunshine through those clouds out there in Brisbane, which is welcome. It was a very anxious night last night for all of south east Queensland, but also, as I’ve said, in Northern New South Wales. But remember, those floodwaters will remain at their peaks for some days yet, and it may look quite tranquil on the surface, but underneath it can be very, very different. So if it’s flooded, forget it. You’re not only putting your own life at risk or your own safety at risk, when you enter into those floodwaters. But those who have to come and assist you if you become impacted or in a position where you can’t help yourself. So I urge people, as the Lord Mayor has said, stay in a safe place over these next few days and we don’t need to be adding the terrible further loss of life that we saw and have seen overnight and further people missing is highly distressing, and we extend our deepest sympathies to those who have been directly impacted by the loss of loved ones and for those who are missing, and we hope for the best for those who are missing.
But right now, everything is being done that can be done to support people right across south east Queensland and indeed in the even more crisis situations that we’re now seeing in norther New South Wales. The flood event there, they’re used to floods just like in Queensland, northern New South Wales but the floods we have seen in Lismore, they have not seen. They have not seen them before, and people who were in areas that have never been touched by floods have been overnight. And that is a crisis situation and we are working closely with the New South Wales Government to give every support. After some meetings this morning, I’ll be returning to Canberra to meet with the Emergency Management Authority at the Situation Room there in Canberra to look at the broader impact of these floods right across the east coast of Australia. The National Security Committee of Cabinet will be meeting in the morning, obviously not just to address these very serious issues, but also to address the ongoing situation in Ukraine. And with that, happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what defence preparations are underway today for the recovery effort?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that is literally what I’m going to speak to the team out at Enoggera today about. I mean, they have standard operations for recovery events such as this. They are working closely with the city council here and many other local government areas, one of the great advantages of the City of Brisbane is it has a highly skilled council administration and they have a lot of heavy equipment that can be used to support these works. And so where there is additional assistance required in the City of Brisbane, of course, that will come and the state government doing the same. But I anticipate that the Defence Forces will be there to support some of the other councils in south east Queensland, which won’t have the same level of capability as the City of Brisbane, and can be with heavy equipment, troops themselves engaged directly in the same cleanup effort that so many people from the City of Brisbane engage with as part of the Mud Army.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, [inaudible] people who are trapped on roofs, when can they expect their support to arrive?
PRIME MINISTER: It should be there now. It was deployed earlier today and we’ve been in discussions since earlier this morning. Those flood waters have been moving very, very rapidly, as I said I had several discussions with the Premier earlier this morning. And there was already engagement between our defences forces and NSW agencies even earlier than that today, but we are somewhat encumbered by the weather system, which does frustrate aerial operations for the evacuation. I’ve heard the reports of many people and those from emergency services who are getting people on roofs, then themselves had to be air evacuated. So it is a very, very distressing situation in northern New South Wales and every resource and asset we have available to help people in that situation and to support the New South Wales government’s plans for evacuation. They have the lead on this. That’s how these things work, we are there to support their rescue plan and their efforts. The New South Wales Government has significant assets when it comes to flood boats and others that can support evacuations. But the floods that we’re seeing are extremely serious, and that also can put real impediments to the evacuation efforts.
JOURNALIST: Just briefly on another topic, Prime Minister, what lethal aid are providing to Ukraine and how are we getting it there. Can you put a dollar figure on on that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me just go over a few things. Right now, we imposed sanctions on 370 individuals, 339 members of the Russian parliament who voted for their illegal war. All 12 members of the Russian Security Council, including the foreign minister and the defence minister, directed sanctions against President Putin himself. 8 oligarchs who are close to President Putin, the Russian army commander, deputy defence ministers and mercenaries, entities involved in the development sale of military technology, weapons and financial institutions subject to targeted financial sanctions. And there’s 6 of those. And 13 Belarusian individuals and entities supporting the Russians war effort. Yesterday I announced that we were extending our aid to lethal aid. That has been done directly through NATO, that planning has been going on over the last 24-36 hours. And that’s what the national security committee is meeting about tomorrow to receive those reports and that advice, to enable us to action a number of those initiatives. The extent of what we announce will also be subject to national security considerations, so I don’t want to flag that this will soon be a list that we may provide, we will consider that as we work through those issues. But the lethal aid support sees us step up again together with the rest of the world. I was pleased to receive a message from the President last night and the President was very grateful for Australia’s strong stand, in particular, extending our support to lethal aid. We actually endeavoured to speak last night, he was keen to speak, but as you can imagine, communications are not very straightforward. And we may indeed speak later today in which I look forward to give him encouragement. But I think the Ukrainian people have shown tremendous strength, tremendous resolve. But the situation remains terribly concerning, but I am pleased that we are seeing an accelerating and increasing the strength of response from Western democracies in standing up against what is thuggish brutality for which there’s no justification. There was no provocation. It is unwarranted. And it is absolutely essential that Russia abandons abandons these illegal acts of brutality and violence and thuggish behaviour against its neighbour, and I call on all countries to denounce in the strongest possible terms. And to join the sanctions, Russia must a price for this behaviour and Australia is doing everything in our power, including encouraging other countries, particularly the move we made on SWIFT and supporting that and working with our US counterparts. The treasurer, our Treasurer has been working with the US Treasury Secretary overnight as well to encourage those actions, and I’m very pleased to see the actions of the US and others have been taking on SWIFT. The actions of the German Government and more broadly across the EU.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, [inaudible] Australia who want to travel and join Ukraine fight, to do so?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is a complicated situation, and at present it is still somewhat unclear what the President of Ukraine has proposed. Our law sets out arrangements where people can be involved in official activity by a sovereign state, which Ukraine qualifies, but the nature of these arrangements are very uncertain, and I would stress this, our travel advice to all Australians is do not travel. So let me be very clear about that. That is the Australian Government’s advice for all Australians not to travel to Ukraine for obvious reasons. And I would counsel against making assumptions about the legality of such activity at this point, given the uncertainties that are associated with the arrangements and the force that the President of Ukraine is putting in place, so we’ll obviously discuss these matters further tomorrow at NSC. But I would counsel against that. It’s purely for the safety of all Australians, that they would not travel to Ukraine. I can understand absolutely the strong feelings and the motivations for people to go and do that. But I would say at this time, the legality of such actions are uncertain under Australian law. Thanks very much everyone.
