QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Ms McBAIN (Eden-Monaro—Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories and Minister for Emergency Management) (15:07): I'd like to thank the member for Tangney for his question. What people across this parliament might not know is that the member for Tangney was the 2020 police officer of the year in WA and knows firsthand the importance of having a national warning system.

That is important. I also want to acknowledge the member for Maranoa, who was the minister during the royal commission, and I know it's a longstanding position of his that there needed to be a consistent national warning system. On Monday 27 July, the Australian government undertook a test of our new national emergency warning system, AusAlert.

From Darwin to Geelong, Kalbarri to Bundaberg, millions of mobile devices across Australia received that test alert, and the test was successful, with more than 94 per cent of cell towers broadcasting that notification. It showcased AusAlert's ability to deliver emergency warnings at pace and at scale. AusAlert is potentially life-saving technology.

It is a more modern, more capable system that will get emergency alerts to more people in a more timely manner than the existing text-based emergency alert system. AusAlert will be ready for use from October this year. Existing warning channels, including radio, television, social media and, most importantly, community outreach, remain critical during any natural disaster.

But the delivery of AusAlert is another example of our government delivering real change for the Australian people. It builds on improvements that we've already made in emergency management, including the establishment of the National Emergency Management Agency, including the Disaster Ready Fund, which is delivering disaster resilience and risk reduction across the country with 449 projects announced and underway.

We've invested more than $100 million in our national aerial firefighting capability to support states and territories to respond to crises, and we continue to invest in the National Emergency Management Stockpile to support the rollout of critical goods and services to communities quickly. Countries such as France and the United States of America already use cell-broadcast technology as part of their emergency warning toolkit.

I'd like to take a second to send our thoughts to friends across Canada, France and the United States, who are currently battling devastating wildfires. A contingent of 185 Australians and 57 New Zealanders departed for the US this week, joining the 74 personnel that are already deployed to support wildfire suppression efforts. A further 40 are in Canada, and a further 28 are in France, supporting our international partners in their time of need.

Australians have some of the finest firefighting capability on the planet, and I know I speak for everyone across this parliament when I wish those personnel a safe deployment and thank them for their bravery and their dedication in assisting others during this very difficult bushfire season.