Anika Wells MP doorstop at Parliament House

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
TUESDAY, 29 MARCH 2022

SUBJECTS: Federal budget; Brisbane floods.

ANIKA WELLS, MEMBER FOR LILLEY: Hello everyone, I’m Anika Wells, the Federal Member for Lilley. The people of Brisbane feel very anxious, it is raining again. And it's only four weeks from the natural disaster that we now know as the February floods. People have just packed away the gurney, and it's raining again. So here we are on Federal Budget Day and most, or many of my constituents won't be watching the federal budget tonight because there are currently power outages as the rains come down again. So as their representative, what I want to know from the treasurer tonight, is what he is going to do to take care of my community as we recover, as we rebuild and as we plan for the next one. Because what has been so devastating about these floods is that after COVID, after Omicron, what this took from people after all that, is their most valued possession, their home. And if they didn't lose their home, they're worried that their street is on borrowed time. We know that this will keep happening. We need to do something about disaster mitigation. Tonight, I don't want to hear any self-adulation about one-off cash payments. I want to hear what the vision is. I want to hear what the leadership is. I want to hear about some very long nights with the candle burning at both ends to tell Queenslanders what they can expect by way of disaster mitigation, by way of sustainability, by way of infrastructure, rebuilding and planning for our future. Because it's perilous out there. It's raining right now. People need a little bit of hope, and more leadership than bumper-sticker headlines, which is what we're hearing this morning. I look forward to the Treasurer surprising me. 

ENDS