Interview with Neil Breen, 4BC
7 April 2022
Neil Breen: Good morning to you, Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: Good morning, Neil.
Breen: What did you make of that attack from Cameron Dick yesterday?
Prime Minister: Well, there's been a lot of politicisation of these terrible disasters, but Australians, Queenslanders just want these issues addressed and, and already we've supported the 50/50 program they put to us, which was over a half a billion dollars. And that was for small business grants and sport and recreational grants for places affected, primary producers. And we've also already paid out $379 million directly to Queenslanders, and they will know that.
But look, Neil, what we want to ensure is that people don't get left behind here. And while yes, we have spent more than the state government has even committed to these projects to this time, well, I've spoken to my, particularly my colleagues overnight, Julian Simmonds and others and Trevor Evans. And we believe that, you know, if Queensland wants to play politics with floods before an election - well, that's up to them. But what I want to make sure is that people are getting the support they need now.
Now the requests that the Queensland Government have made for this further support, they go well beyond any other request for floods of this nature in the past. They are things that are the state government's responsibility, but it's pretty clear they want to play politics with this. I don't want to play politics with this. I just want to make sure people are getting the support that they need. So we'll meet that, the 50/50 costs, but there'll be a couple of conditions. First of all, Neil, the Queensland Government is currently sitting on $52 million in their bank account that we have provided them over the last three years for various disasters that was supposed to help people. It's just sitting in their bank account. They haven't even spent it. And so my cautiousness in agreeing to a request from the Queensland Government on the eve of an election, I think people might be able to understand when they won't even tell you how much they've already spent on the money we've already committed to in this flood crisis alone. I can tell you every day yesterday it was $370. Today it's $379. That's how much the Commonwealth Government has already paid out to support flood victims in South East Queensland. I can't tell you what the Queensland Government has done with the $280 million we've committed to them in a 50/50 program for their first request, because they don't tell anyone. There has to be greater transparency about this.
I mean, we don't want to have politicking over the support that is provided in times of natural disaster. And I must say, normally we've worked very closely with the Queensland Government and were throughout the course of the floods. But as we're coming into this election, I think people can see what's going on here. And so yes, we will provide that support. Yes, it is beyond the scope of what is normally done. These are things the Queensland Government should be doing because it is their responsibility.
But we're in the current situation where the Commonwealth Government has already paid out more money to people in Queensland, than the Queensland Government has even committed to spend on these issues up until the request they've just made.
Breen: So, so, can I just ask, so what are you asking for, in return for you to pay half of the $771 - well, you're actually paying half of of a component of it already - but to pay half of it, what are you asking them to do in return exactly?
Prime Minister: I want them to be transparent with the payments that are being made. I want them to report to the public. I want them to be able to answer your question.
Breen: Yep.
Prime Minister: So, Treasurer Dick, when or how much has been paid? How much is being paid to Queenslanders? I can tell you the answer to that question from the Commonwealth - $379 million. But we need transparency. These big announcements and commitments are made by the Queensland Government, but how much have they actually paid to people? It has been many weeks now since we gave them the commitment to 50/50 funding on small business grants, not-for-profit grants, sports and recreational grants, primary producers. That was a $558.5 million program, which we agreed to weeks ago. How much money have they paid out? I don't know. They won't tell us.
Breen: No, they don't, they don't. They won't tell us about quarantine costs. There's a lot of things they don't tell us about. Hey, the $52 million, Prime Minister, from previous disasters. What's that all about?
Prime Minister: Well, what happens when you have disasters is you commit to funding to support and then you make payments to the states, and then they have to acquit that for the purposes it was sent to them. But where they don't spend it, they get to hold onto it. And that's what the Queensland Government did, and they've got $52 million right now that they haven't spent on previous disasters. They should be spending that money on things like flood mitigation. Now, we've talked about that before. They've also asked us for more money for flood mitigation. They've been sitting on $52 million of the Commonwealth's money, already that that could have been done to those projects.
So there's not a transparency here, I think, Neil, and that's the problem. We're happy to support and we are. So, what this will mean with our commitment today, is that there's been $1.9 billion committed between the state government and the Federal government to supporting the Queensland flood response. $1.3 billion of that will be coming from the Federal Government. So that doesn't sound like 50/50 to me. But people who have been affected by floods don't want this politicking and fighting. They just want it sorted out. So I'm happy to do that.
But I think it's important to be very clear that there's got to be transparency arrangements around this. Now, the Minister, Minister McKenzie, she'll be standing up later today and she'll talk more about these things. But one of the things she's also insisting on is we need a fairer deal about how we manage these disasters in the future. Because the Commonwealth, we always stump up. That $379 million on Commonwealth disaster payments, which people received immediately - those $1000 payments. We paid for that 100 per cent. We don't ask the state governments for it. We just get the job done. Now, in the future, if there's going to be, you know, more of these requests that come, then we want to know from the state governments, what are you doing on flood mitigation? What are you doing on hazard reduction? What are you doing on planning and approvals over where people can put houses and build them? Because the state, the state governments hold all the levers when it comes to protecting people on the ground from these disasters, and then when their policy failures come through, they just try and send the bill to the Federal Government, so it's not taking responsibility. We're happy to have shared responsibility here, and I think I'm demonstrating that today.
We've made a reasonable response. It was politicised by the state government, so I'm just not going to allow that to go on. So we'll stump up, but I'm looking forward to the Queensland Government being more transparent about this, we're now meeting two thirds of the cost of the flood response in Queensland. And I'm not counting things like Defence Force support and things like that. State government, of course, does things through the State Emergency Services, and they all do a terrific job. But when it comes to direct financial support, two thirds of the support for the South East Queensland flood victims is coming from the Commonwealth Government, and we've already spent more directly than the state government has even committed to, prior to this most recent request.
Breen: Prime Minister Scott Morrison, thanks for your time today. You've returned serve to that. You've returned serve to the Queensland Government. We'll see what their response is.
Prime Minister: Thanks very much, Neil. Good to chat.
