Remarks - Hervey Bay

Thank you so much, mate. And I want to, it's great to be here, and to have got a briefing this morning about the effort to recover from what was a pretty serious disaster that you had to deal with. I'm joined by Senator Anthony Chisholm here and Trish Mears, who's our candidate here in Hinkler. And I just wanted to drop in, I was talking to Chis last week, he was here, and I wanted to drop in just to show my support for the community. I spent a fair bit of time in South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales, but you got hit as well and got hit hard. But the recovery has been pretty swift. I'm going to a school after this that was badly affected to have a look there as well. At the worst of times we see the best of the Australian character. And what we saw over this disaster, Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred was extraordinary efforts being made by people. Whether they be people on the council, people working for energy companies, people fixing up things, people helping their neighbours, the Australian Defence Force, the SES, people really pitching in to help their fellow Australians, and that's what we do in this country. The best part of what makes us the best country on Earth is the way that we look after each other, particularly in tough times - so thank you for what you have done. Importantly as well, thank you for what you continue to do. Services Australia here are on site here in Hervey Bay, and I know are providing support. I'll go to the headquarters in Brisbane that's looking after all of Queensland tomorrow morning. I know that I spent time not just here, but at the headquarters there in Canberra as well. And the payments, I'm told, are flowing through pretty speedily - 24 hours is a pretty good effort. And we'll continue to engage with the Council, to engage with people here to make sure that people are looked after. Because at tough times, that what we do. We look after each other, and I just want to thank you for what you've done. Thank you.