: Few are flying into Brisbane right now, but one who happens to be has been the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.
LORETTA RYAN, HOST: Yes. Touching down in Brisbane last night. He'll meet with disaster coordinators this morning. Good morning, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Yeah, I got in last night. I had a late night meeting with Premier Crisafulli and a one on one briefing with him last night. And this morning both of us will go to the State Disaster Coordination Centre there. The local Member, Anika Wells, will come along with us there. I know Queenslanders are tough but these are certainly tough times ahead in the next few days.
RYAN: Yeah, well we're having a lot of problems as you're hearing, with listeners in sandbags and I know Anika Wells has had something to say about the lack of preparation. We shouldn't be running out of sandbags. Will you be rolling up your sleeves today and helping out?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll be delivering 250,000 sandbags to the Queensland Government from the national supply. The other thing that we're doing is putting the ADF on standby. We are taking a range of measures including pre-positioning heavy lift helicopters from the National Aerial Firefighting Fleet. That's important. We've activated the Australian Government Disaster Response Plan. We've convened the National Coordination Mechanism to assist with the coordination of the Commonwealth Government response. And what that means is things like Services Australia can continue and the National Emergency Management Agency is assisting with all of that. Our Minister, Jenny McAllister, has been on the ground here along with obviously our Treasurer Jim Chalmers as well.
ZONCA: Prime Minister, you talk of those sandbags. Have you got a time frame? When are they going to arrive and hit the streets of Brisbane?
PRIME MINISTER: They'll be here as soon as they can be got here. That is our priority to make sure that that provides additional support on top of the support that's there already -
ZONCA: But effectively we need them today. Tomorrow is effectively too late for people to be going out to get sandbags.
PRIME MINISTER: And that is precisely what we are endeavouring to do.
ZONCA: We have, obviously, you listed off the meetings you'll be having today. We have a Federal Emergency Minister. Locally here, the Premier, State Disaster Coordinator and so on. We have lots of politicians in town. Does it really help or hinder preparations when the Prime Minister arrives into Brisbane?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I did last night was have a one on one meeting with the Premier. I think that helps to make sure that there's seamless cooperation. We worked together very closely on the floods that occurred in North Queensland. There's no politics and there's no state boundaries. This is a time where there's no State of Origin here. This is about all Australians doing what they can to help people at difficult times. That's what we do -
ZONCA: Yeah, I understand that Prime Minister, to -
PRIME MINISTER: At the worst of times we see the best of Australians.
ZONCA: But you say that, that it's easing that flow of logistics, making things happen. But you can't even tell us when sandbags are going to arrive into Brisbane.
PRIME MINISTER: No, what I've told you is that yesterday we made a decision to ensure that the sandbags come from the national supply. It was requested yesterday. I've said they were on their way.
RYAN: We broadcast into the northern part of the state. It's likely northern New South Wales will be flooded again. Where is the rebuild, the relocation of Lismore at currently?
PRIME MINISTER: Well of course the New South Wales Government are responsible for that. What we have done is provide significant financial support including the purchasing of homes that we put in place with the then Perrottet Government to make sure that people who are in those low lying areas could relocate. And that's a program that we put in place. We are continuing to work with the New South Wales Government who are responsible for that. My heart goes out to the people of Lismore who have had such a tough time. If they are hit again, this will be the third time in a short number of years that they've had these events. And of course a tropical cyclone hitting northern New South Wales and Southeast Queensland is something that is not normal activity. We are seeing more frequent and more extreme weather events and that is something that we are attempting to deal with. It seems only a very short period of time when I was up in North Queensland around Townsville dealing with the previous disaster. And today the people of South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales are facing a very difficult time.
RYAN: I know you have to get out to another interview but Prime Minister, I can't have you here without asking about Olympic plans. Will you be discussing those with the Premier?
PRIME MINISTER: We didn't discuss them last night, I've got to say. We were focused on this event and the impact of - or the potential impact - of the cyclone and making sure that preparations across a range of areas where the Federal Government can provide assistance. You know, we will do whatever we are requested to do as we did in the North Queensland situation. We will provide every support. The ADF are on standby as we speak and of course we have significant assets, including people, of course, personnel, here in Queensland. But this will be a national effort to provide support.
ZONCA: Prime Minister, just before you go, as we deal with this emergency situation over the coming days here in South East Queensland, I have to ask the question, will you be visiting the Governor-General this weekend to call an election?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm focused on governing. That's what I'm doing each and every day. I met with the New South Wales Premier yesterday, met with the Queensland Premier last night. I'll be with the Queensland Premier today. That's my focus. I don't think that people who are your listeners, with due respect to the importance of the next federal election, I don't think their focus this morning is on election dates.
ZONCA: I would probably agree with you on that point, Prime Minister, as they prepare their properties and for what Tropical Cyclone Alfred may bring. Thanks so much for joining us this morning on 612 ABC Brisbane.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.
