Cyclone Relief Assistance

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:25): My question is for the Minister for Emergency Services. Can the minister update the council about the assistance the South Australian government is providing Queensland in response to tropical cyclone Debbie?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:25): I would like to thank the honourable member for his important question because, of course, at the moment our brothers and sisters in northern Queensland are suffering a difficult time with tropical cyclone Debbie. Around midday on Tuesday 28 March, the severe tropical cyclone had a high-end category 4 rating, with winds of up to 260 km/h, and it hit north of Queensland on the coast adjacent to Airlie Beach.

Tropical cyclone Debbie has left a trail of destruction, with downed trees, stripped buildings and flooding. Thousands of Queenslanders were evacuated and tens of thousands, of course, remain without power, because that happens when significant storms occur. As the cyclone approached on Tuesday, I spoke with the Queensland Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services, the Hon. Mr Mark Ryan, to offer South Australia's support should Queensland need it.

I can also confirm that the Chief Officer of the State Emergency Services, Mr Chris Beattie, was also in contact with the Commissioner of Queensland Fire and Emergency Services and has been coordinating resources from across the CFS, MFS, the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources and also SAPOL, on behalf of the South Australian government.

As I speak, a deployment of 10 incident management specialists from the CFS, DEWNR and others are flying out of Adelaide bound for Brisbane, to assist their counterparts in Queensland. This group is made up of three paid staff, but also seven volunteers. They will join an SES liaison officer already positioned in Brisbane to work with the cyclone's emergency response team at the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services State Disaster Coordination Centre at Kedron.

South Australia has a long history of providing assistance to other states in times of need. In this instance, we have told Queensland that we have the capability and capacity to deploy up to 155 personnel, with capabilities ranging from incident management to swiftwater rescue, flood boat operation, large animal rescue and hydrology, as well as general storm and flood response. The South Australian SES will continue liaising with Queensland emergency service authorities to determine whether future deployments are required next week.

I am extremely proud that South Australia is able to step up to the plate and make a contribution and able to step up to the plate and be ready to make a more substantial contribution if required to do so. I think, in instances like this, we are Australians first and South Australians or Queenslanders second. This is an opportunity to show everybody that we are part of a commonwealth that is committed to looking after one another. We are so lucky to have well resourced emergency services in our state, amongst others, who are ably assisted by literally thousands of volunteers.

We were the beneficiary, as a state, of resources coming from interstate last year when we had our own significant weather events. We have been the beneficiary of services when there have been other bushfire incidents occurring in South Australia and this is an opportunity for us to repay that debt. Last year, with our significant weather events and storm events—with last year, of course, being the second wettest year on record in metropolitan Adelaide—many of our SES and CFS volunteers were tested.

Some of their substantial skills and everything they have trained for was put to the test in some pretty difficult circumstances. Swiftwater rescue response, for instance, is a very dangerous and technical exercise. It is an undertaking that you would not want anyone without the appropriate skills or training to be doing.

Those sort of experiences that occurred throughout last year put our State Emergency Services volunteers in a good place to be able to assist Queenslanders in their time of need. We stand at the ready, and for those people who as we speak are already travelling to Queensland we wish them well, we hope they stay safe and we hope that all those people suffering from the cyclone, in some small way even, can be the beneficiary of South Australians' commitment to their service.