SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER
MINISTER FINANCE
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
SENATOR FOR THE ACT
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC NORTH QUEENSLAND
WEDNESDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2025
SUBJECTS: Queensland floods; government assistance; UNICEF; the Budget; election timing.
MICHAEL CLARKE, HOST: The Minister for Finance and Government Services, Senator Katy Gallagher, is in Townsville today and is with us now. Senator, thank you so much for your time this morning.
SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Thanks very much for having me on, Michael.
CLARKE: In your opinion, has the level of government assistance been adequate for the communities that have been impacted in recent weeks?
GALLAGHER: Well, from the Commonwealth’s point of view – and we have been working very closely with the Queensland Government – we’ve been responding to the emergency and making sure that services and supports were there as quickly as possible and also allowing for those disaster payments; so, the Disaster Recovery Allowance or the government Disaster Recovery Payment. And so, those have been flowing. I’ve been advised Services Australia has paid out close to $4 million in those payments since the floods happened. And so, we can see the money going out. But part of the reason I’m up here and in Townsville today is to talk with Services Australia staff to thank them for all they’ve been doing, but also to find out what the pressure points are. And listening to your previous interview, making sure that we’re doing everything we can to support business and households in this area.
CLARKE: How concerning is it that when you hear those stories that Mary Brown was saying about businesses who lost power – I mean, for many days, almost a week in some cases, had to throw away their stock. But because they didn’t actually get rising flood waters where they are, they may be ineligible for any sort of assistance?
GALLAGHER: I’d heard anecdotal reports of that and then listening to your interview, that’s partly why I wanted to come up and talk with Services Australia about particularly those businesses that seem to not be eligible, just to find out what’s going on there. Because it is a pretty broad payment that’s related to income. You know, if you’ve lost income. And it’s a short-term payment, but it’s designed to get people through these times. So, I need to talk to understand a little bit more about what’s happening when people are putting in their applications.
CLARKE: In Townsville, there has been those concerns of people who have slipped through the cracks because there’s been reports that those who were in the black and pink zones received assistance, but people outside of those areas who may have been impacted by very heavy rainfall where they are, are not eligible for assistance. That’s been a concern over the last couple of weeks. Is there anything that can be done to broaden that inclusion to make those people – if they can say, look I’ve had all this damage in my house, I should be eligible as well?
GALLAGHER: Again, that’s part of the reason why I’m up here to understand a bit more about that. I mean, there are eligibility requirements for these payments. I have heard indeed from Jenny McAllister, who’s our emergency management minister who has been up here a lot in the last weeks, she has raised this with me as well. So, that’s partly why I wanted to just understand what is going on and what is the point where people are missing out on payments and feel that they should be eligible to them and just get across that a bit more. This eligibility for this payment has been in place for some time. You know, really since these payments were established. So, I just need to understand why people are feeling that they’re not being supported through these payments and get across that a bit more, which is part of why I’m up here today.
CLARKE: And how important is a quick response to these concerns, because as you heard in some cases, businesses may be actually struggling to continue if they’re not getting that help?
GALLAGHER: Absolutely, I mean the whole point of these payments is to provide that really immediate support for loss of income due to an emergency, a bushfire or a flood mainly, or other kind of natural disasters. So, the whole point of these flood assistance payments in this case are to provide that short-term support to people as we get through from the emergency through to the recovery phase. So, yeah, making sure that they are working as intended is a really important part of the payment and again why I’m up here today.
CLARKE: You’re hearing this morning from Senator Katy Gallagher who’s the Minister for Finance and Government Services, among other portfolios, in Townsville today. And another story that we’ve had in the news this morning, Senator, UNICEF Australia calling on the Federal Government to boost its disaster recovery payments for children in the aftermath of our severe weather, saying that those payments don’t go far enough. Is that something the Government could consider?
GALLAGHER: Well, there is a payment for children at the moment. If you’re eligible for the Disaster Recovery Payment, it’s $1000 for adults and $400 for children, per child, for those that have been significantly affected. I haven’t seen that report today, Michael, but I don’t think there’s any surprise – we quite often get lobbied to increase payments across the board and that’s something that we try to manage within the budget settings, looking at how much we can provide for how many people are relying on that payment and making sure that all fits together. But we obviously look at reports by UNICEF and other organisations pretty closely.
CLARKE: They say that they’d like to see that increase from $400 to $480 because the current payments are five years behind inflation, that’s their argument.
GALLAGHER: Okay, rightio, thank you, I haven’t seen the report, but again, we try and make sure that these payments are adequate for families who have gone through an emergency and we look at these in the context of the Budget and other pressures on the Budget. I mean, we just have to make sure that we’ve got the Budget in the proper shape to be able to increase payments where we can. We look at this with every Budget. We look at all of the payments and you know, social security investments that we make across the country to make sure that they are keeping pace with people’s cost-of-living. But I’ll have a look at that UNICEF report as well. We’re right in the thick of putting a budget together right now. So good timing..
CLARKE: Well, that’s good to talk about as well this morning, the Budget will be delivered, we won’t be going to an election before the Budget, what are your thoughts or what have you heard?
GALLAGHER: Well, the Treasurer and I and the ERC have been meeting in the last two days. We’ve been locked in a room putting the Budget together. So, that’s what our planning is. We’ve got that scheduled for the 25th of March.
CLARKE: Alright, would you be disappointed if your boss, the Prime Minister, called the election before that Budget after all the hard work you’ve been doing on the Budget?
GALLAGHER: Well, I guess it’s one of those decisions that the PM makes and makes on his own and that will be his decision entirely. My job is to make sure that we’ve got everything in place for a budget on the 25th of March.
CLARKE: Does he make that decision on his own or does he consult with colleagues such as yourself and say, what do you think?
GALLAGHER: Well, I think really for him – there’s a few decisions I think the PM makes on their own, and I think election timing – because it’s such a highly sought-after piece of information – is one of those.
CLARKE: It certainly is a highly sought-after piece of information, you’re quite correct. Good to talk to you this morning and thank you for talking to us from Townsville today.
GALLAGHER: Thanks very much, Michael
