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Report
Tropical Cyclone Alfred has slowed down but could intensify
Australian Community Media
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3/5/2025
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese provides an update on Tropical Cyclone Alfred on Thursday morning, March 6, 2025.
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00:00
These are tough times but Australians are tough people and we're resilient people. I've spoken
00:06
this morning again, been in contact with Queensland, with New South Wales. I spoke with the
00:10
Mayor of Lismore, Steve Craig. He spoke about what a tough night he's had with himself and his partner.
00:19
You know, they are still in recovery mode. They've had hit after hit after hit there in that local
00:27
community. But they are tough. It ended up being a discussion about how they were preparing and how
00:37
positive he was that they had put everything in place that they could. At the worst of times,
00:44
we always see the best of Australian character. I said yesterday that there were no political parties
00:50
in this process and there are no borders. Cyclone, Tropical Cyclone Alfred certainly
00:56
does not recognise any borders and nor should the government's response. That is why I know
01:04
that Premier Minns and Premier Christopher Foley are in lockstep as well going forward, as are the
01:11
three levels of government working together. Through the national coordination mechanism
01:18
out of here, we are assisting with the coordination as well of the private sector as well as the
01:24
Commonwealth Government response. That includes supermarkets, telcos, banking, freight companies,
01:32
all of the organisations which will play a role, first in preparedness, then in dealing with the
01:40
impact of this cyclone and thirdly, in the recovery period which will occur. My message to people,
01:49
whether they be in South East Queensland or Northern New South Wales, is we are there to
01:54
support you. We have your back. We respect the work that you are doing in your preparedness and
02:01
we know that this is tough times and that's why every Australian, every Australian regardless
02:09
of where they are in this great country of ours, is thinking of you over the coming period.
02:16
As Joe indicated, there's been a significant update in where we were from this time yesterday.
02:24
This time yesterday, it was anticipated that the cyclone would cross into the territory,
02:33
land crossing would occur in the early hours of tomorrow morning. It's now anticipated because
02:41
it has slowed up somewhat that that will now be at a later time. That's not all good news.
02:50
It is important to stress it is still anticipated this will cross into land and will reach landfall.
02:59
It will just do it later and a risk is of course that in slowing up that it increases in its
03:07
in its intensity but at this stage it is still predicted to be category two as it crosses onto
03:14
land. It is expected to make an impact on Friday. We expect three separate hazards. Storm surge and
03:23
high tides along coastal communities and severe winds as Alfred approaches the coast. Then rainfall
03:31
and of course potential flash and riverine flooding right into the weekend. So it's not
03:38
just a matter, to put it really simply, it's not a matter of just when the winds die down
03:44
everything's then okay. That could be as the waters are rising and flooding is increasing
03:50
as well. More than 660 schools are closed across southeast Queensland and more than 280 schools
03:59
are closed across northern New South Wales. Queensland supermarkets in affected areas will
04:06
close from today. I can as well update you on the following response from the Commonwealth.
04:13
We've received a request from both Queensland and New South Wales overnight or in New South Wales
04:20
this case in the early hours of this morning for the early recovery grants of a million dollars
04:27
for affected councils. I'll sign off on those at Parliament House immediately this finishes
04:34
and that money will be on its way. That's important so that immediately there's not a process of
04:41
there's a road issue that's been damaged by waters and then we have a process of the bureaucracy
04:48
dealing with these things. The money's on its way so that the work can continue absolutely
04:54
immediately. We want to make sure that as soon as recovery work is physically possible it gets
05:01
underway. We've delivered 310,000 sandbags into Brisbane for distribution across councils and
05:09
there is more on their way. 60 ADF personnel and 30 high clearance vehicles are being pre-positioned
05:17
to go to Queensland to support police and SES volunteers as we move to the recovery phase.
05:24
They will doorknock to identify and support at-risk people. We have approved in addition
05:31
to that two ADF search and rescue choppers to support Queensland post-crossing. Yesterday
05:39
we pre-positioned heavy lift helicopters from our national aerial firefighting fleet. A Sikorsky
05:46
S61 is being deployed to Coffs Harbour and a UH-60 Blackhawk is being pre-positioned
05:53
in Bundaberg. We have activated the Australian Government Disaster Response Plan,
05:59
a crisis coordination team which will operate out of here. I intend operating out of here
06:05
for coming days. It is probably the best place I can be to make sure that there is seamless activity
06:12
between NSW and Queensland. So put in your diary, this time tomorrow I intend to be here again,
06:21
but if need be, as required, if there's a further update required, then I'll do that this afternoon.
06:29
The National Coordination Mechanism is providing support and importantly,
06:36
we have people from NEMA there in the meeting where I was yesterday in Queensland, similarly
06:41
in the NSW Coordination as well. So there is really, having seen firsthand,
06:49
the seamless coordination which is there, is something which unfortunately there's been a
06:56
lot of experience with these events and it does show that that has occurred. We also, as of
07:05
yesterday, we declared a childcare subsidy period of emergency for childcare services
07:11
in South East Queensland and Northern NSW. That's essentially about making sure that the
07:17
childcare centres are not financially disadvantaged as well as, of course, then that flow through
07:25
into people. Could I conclude with these messages? I would encourage people to listen to
07:35
local ABC radio at times like this. ABC shows why it's important that we have a national broadcaster.
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