State and Federal Ministers continue to visit region to assist in the recovery and show support

Minister Mark Furner and Senator for Queensland Murray Watt joined the growing and welcomed list of State and Federal Ministers to visit to the Livingstone region this week to meet with affected primary producers and residents impacted by the devastating bush-fires that ravaged our region.

Local Disaster Management Group Chair and Mayor Bill Ludwig said it was certainly reassuring to the community to see genuine and constructive bi-partisan support from all tiers of government as the community begins the long journey of recovery and rebuilding.

“In separate visits both Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner and Senator Watt visited fire impacted areas to gain first-hand a clear understanding of the extent and severity of damage to property and agricultural production,” Cr Ludwig said.

Senator Murray Watt said the community will have Federal Labor’s 100 percent support as it recovers from these events over coming months.

“I want to send a message to the entire Central Queensland community that Federal Labor is working in lockstep with the Federal Government, with the State Government and local governments to make sure that Central Queensland gets all of the support that it needs in its time of need,” Senator Watt said.

“I want to also put on record our sincere sympathies to those members of the Central Queensland community who have lost property, lost pets, lost livestock, lost crops and that is something that no one wants to see happen whether it be here in Central Queensland or elsewhere.

“We know that this is going to take a lot of time for people to recover and that they are going to need support from all levels of government,” Senator Watt said.

Minister Furner said that due to the extent of the damage caused to the agriculture and small business sector in the fire-impacted area, the Queensland and Australian governments are looking at the possibility of activating further assistance under the joint Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) for Category C assistance.

“If we can get the joint support of the Australian Government for Category C assistance primary producers who qualify will also have immediate access to grants of up to $25,000,” Minister Furner said.