QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Ms McBAIN (Eden-Monaro—Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories and Minister for Emergency Management) (15:17): It's because of this prime minister that there is actually investment in disaster response and readiness. We've created the disaster response fund, a $1 billion fund over five years, with projects already being rolled out in rounds 1 and 2, and 3 just announced—big projects like levees, as well as small projects like lifting up the capability of culverts to two-lane concrete bridges.

But not only is it important to invest in hard infrastructure; the soft infrastructure is incredibly important—investing in preparedness programs in local communities across the country, just like communities in Lismore that I visited last week, or in south-west Queensland, which I visited the week before, working with those local councils on priority projects in disaster readiness.

(Time expired)