PM in new flood fund row with Qld

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has been asked to stump up millions to help floodproof thousands of Queensland homes as the state government accuses him of providing more support to flood victims in NSW.

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles made the comments on Saturday as he unveiled a $771m support package for flood victims the government wants Mr Morrison to agree to co-fund.

Mr Miles said the PM had also been asked to offer Queensland flood victims the same access to federal government disaster payments, worth up to an extra $2000 for adults and $800 for children under 16, that had been made available in northern NSW council areas. “That’s thousands of dollars more available to NSW residents than Queensland residents,” he said.

“There is no argument or justification for the differential application of those hardship payments . . . I certainly haven’t been provided with any explanation why NSW local government areas should get more in hardship payments than those in Queensland.

“We know that in the southeast more people were affected than in NSW. The event went for longer here than in northern NSW.”

Mr Miles said he expected the federal government would agree to help fund the new $771m support package, which he dubbed “one of the biggest residential resilience recovery projects ever, certainly in Australia and possibly even the world”.

The package includes grants of up to $50k to retrofit 5500 homes so they can cope with future floods.

Grants of up to $100k to raise up to 1000 homes and a $350m program to buy back 500 homes, where flood mitigation measures are not doable or owners do not want to return, also forms part of the package. No details were provided about how the successful grant recipients would be chosen, but Mr Miles did say the government would further increase structural assistance grants, from $14k to $50k, to get people back into their homes at a cost of up to $38m.