Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese provides an update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred on Thursday morning, March 6, 2025.
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00:00These are tough times but Australians are tough people and we're resilient people. I've spoken
00:06this morning again, been in contact with Queensland, with New South Wales. I spoke with the
00:10Mayor of Lismore, Steve Craig. He spoke about what a tough night he's had with himself and his partner.
00:19You know, they are still in recovery mode. They've had hit after hit after hit there in that local
00:27community. But they are tough. It ended up being a discussion about how they were preparing and how
00:37positive he was that they had put everything in place that they could. At the worst of times,
00:44we always see the best of Australian character. I said yesterday that there were no political parties
00:50in this process and there are no borders. Cyclone, Tropical Cyclone Alfred certainly
00:56does not recognise any borders and nor should the government's response. That is why I know
01:04that Premier Minns and Premier Christopher Foley are in lockstep as well going forward, as are the
01:11three levels of government working together. Through the national coordination mechanism
01:18out of here, we are assisting with the coordination as well of the private sector as well as the
01:24Commonwealth Government response. That includes supermarkets, telcos, banking, freight companies,
01:32all of the organisations which will play a role, first in preparedness, then in dealing with the
01:40impact of this cyclone and thirdly, in the recovery period which will occur. My message to people,
01:49whether they be in South East Queensland or Northern New South Wales, is we are there to
01:54support you. We have your back. We respect the work that you are doing in your preparedness and
02:01we know that this is tough times and that's why every Australian, every Australian regardless
02:09of where they are in this great country of ours, is thinking of you over the coming period.
02:16As Joe indicated, there's been a significant update in where we were from this time yesterday.
02:24This time yesterday, it was anticipated that the cyclone would cross into the territory,
02:33land crossing would occur in the early hours of tomorrow morning. It's now anticipated because
02:41it has slowed up somewhat that that will now be at a later time. That's not all good news.
02:50It is important to stress it is still anticipated this will cross into land and will reach landfall.
02:59It will just do it later and a risk is of course that in slowing up that it increases in its
03:07in its intensity but at this stage it is still predicted to be category two as it crosses onto
03:14land. It is expected to make an impact on Friday. We expect three separate hazards. Storm surge and
03:23high tides along coastal communities and severe winds as Alfred approaches the coast. Then rainfall
03:31and of course potential flash and riverine flooding right into the weekend. So it's not
03:38just a matter, to put it really simply, it's not a matter of just when the winds die down
03:44everything's then okay. That could be as the waters are rising and flooding is increasing
03:50as well. More than 660 schools are closed across southeast Queensland and more than 280 schools
03:59are closed across northern New South Wales. Queensland supermarkets in affected areas will
04:06close from today. I can as well update you on the following response from the Commonwealth.
04:13We've received a request from both Queensland and New South Wales overnight or in New South Wales
04:20this case in the early hours of this morning for the early recovery grants of a million dollars
04:27for affected councils. I'll sign off on those at Parliament House immediately this finishes
04:34and that money will be on its way. That's important so that immediately there's not a process of
04:41there's a road issue that's been damaged by waters and then we have a process of the bureaucracy
04:48dealing with these things. The money's on its way so that the work can continue absolutely
04:54immediately. We want to make sure that as soon as recovery work is physically possible it gets
05:01underway. We've delivered 310,000 sandbags into Brisbane for distribution across councils and
05:09there is more on their way. 60 ADF personnel and 30 high clearance vehicles are being pre-positioned
05:17to go to Queensland to support police and SES volunteers as we move to the recovery phase.
05:24They will doorknock to identify and support at-risk people. We have approved in addition
05:31to that two ADF search and rescue choppers to support Queensland post-crossing. Yesterday
05:39we pre-positioned heavy lift helicopters from our national aerial firefighting fleet. A Sikorsky
05:46S61 is being deployed to Coffs Harbour and a UH-60 Blackhawk is being pre-positioned
05:53in Bundaberg. We have activated the Australian Government Disaster Response Plan,
05:59a crisis coordination team which will operate out of here. I intend operating out of here
06:05for coming days. It is probably the best place I can be to make sure that there is seamless activity
06:12between NSW and Queensland. So put in your diary, this time tomorrow I intend to be here again,
06:21but if need be, as required, if there's a further update required, then I'll do that this afternoon.
06:29The National Coordination Mechanism is providing support and importantly,
06:36we have people from NEMA there in the meeting where I was yesterday in Queensland, similarly
06:41in the NSW Coordination as well. So there is really, having seen firsthand,
06:49the seamless coordination which is there, is something which unfortunately there's been a
06:56lot of experience with these events and it does show that that has occurred. We also, as of
07:05yesterday, we declared a childcare subsidy period of emergency for childcare services
07:11in South East Queensland and Northern NSW. That's essentially about making sure that the
07:17childcare centres are not financially disadvantaged as well as, of course, then that flow through
07:25into people. Could I conclude with these messages? I would encourage people to listen to
07:35local ABC radio at times like this. ABC shows why it's important that we have a national broadcaster.