Morrison goes to water on flood funding refusal
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has backed away from his refusal to help fund a $741 million relief and reconstruction package for south-east Queensland flood victims after a day of sustained criticism of his stance in what is an electorally crucial state.
Deagon residents John Puttick and Catherine O'Keeffe among their flood damaged belongings. (AAP Image/Darren England)
The fight with the Queensland state and local governments over funding for flood victims dominated Morrison’s campaign on Wednesday, with acting premier Cameron Dick saying the Commonwealth’s refusal to jointly fund a new package was “the highest level of disrespect”.
“He has made the political calculation he does not need to votes of flood impacted families in this state,” Dick said.
The state had pitched the multimillion-dollar package to give residents options to either refit or sell their damaged homes. The federal government initially rejected the notion it should help fund the package, saying housing was a matter for the state.
However, after a day of political uproar over his stance, the prime minister appeared to have a change of heart, taking to the airwaves on Thursday morning to say he would agree to help fund the package while accusing the state government of politicising the issue.
Agreeing to a fifty-fifty funding arrangement, Morrison said it was something the Queensland government should be doing and accused them of not spending the money already given to them by the Commonwealth.
“We need transparency, these big announcements and commitments are made by the Queensland government, but how much have they actually paid to people?” he told Brisbane radio 4BC.
“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 make that the 50-50 cost, but there’ll be a couple of conditions.”
Dick said on Thursday he was pleased the prime minister had “finally seen the light”.
“He had three weeks to respond to our letter, now 36 hours later he’s turned around, but ultimately it’s not about me, it’s about the people of Queensland,” he told 4BC.
About 7800 homes were damaged during the recent Queensland floods, 4000 of which are uninhabitable, the Queensland Reconstruction Authority said.
Local Government Association of Queensland chief executive Alison Smith said councils would be breathing a sigh of relief at the prime minister’s change of heart.
“The aftermath of deadly natural disasters is not the place for political argy-bargy between different levels of government, and there is no time to waste in releasing this funding so re-building can get underway as soon as possible,” she said.
-with AAP
