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The Albanese and Crisafulli Governments have today committed an additional $38 million towards large-scale disaster recovery efforts for flood affected communities across north-west Queensland.

Targeted investments will be made across programs and projects that will assist the recovery of flood affected farmers and communities, including:

• $21.5 million for primary producer Disaster Recovery Grants up to $75,000.
• $11.5 million for critical repairs and increased flood resilience at Cloncurry Airport.
• $5 million increase to the previously announced emergency fodder package.

Primary producer recovery grants up to $75,000 are available to impacted farmers in Carpentaria, Cloncurry, Croydon, Flinders, McKinlay, Richmond and Winton Shires, including upfront payments of $10,000.

The Cloncurry Airport Recovery and Renewal Package will see $11.5 million of works rolled out to repair the damaged airstrip and increase the airport’s capacity to accommodate larger aircraft.

Another $5 million investment will grow the region’s Coordinated Emergency Fodder Support Package to $7 million, helping primary producers keep their stock fed in Carpentaria, Cloncurry, Flinders, McKinlay, Richmond and Winton.

This $38 million commitment from the Albanese and Crisafulli Governments is being made through the joint Commonwealth-state Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

Primary producers applying for Disaster Recovery Grants can visit www.qrida.qld.gov.au or phone 1800 623 946.

Farmers needing fodder support should contact their local council immediately.

For the latest disaster information, all Queenslanders can visit www.disaster.qld.gov.au, with around the clock support also available via the Queensland Community Recovery Hotline on 1800 173 349.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:

“This funding will provide immediate support to flooded communities that are hurting now and will set them up for success in the future.

“These disaster packages will make sure flood affected Queenslanders can recover and importantly build back stronger.

“We want all Australians to know that their government has their back.”

Acting Queensland Premier Jarrod Bleijie:

“We’ve got boots on the ground across the north and north-west to inform our recovery and the support we’re providing.

“It doesn’t matter what we’re up against, we’ll continue delivering for Queensland.”

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers:

“I’m back in Cloncurry again for the second time in 13 months, this time with the PM and Minister McBain, and we have a simple message.

“We know the people, communities and industries of regional Queensland play a crucial role in our country and its economy and we are here for them every step of the way.

“These floods have been devastating for farming families in Queensland’s north and central west, there’s no other way to put it, and as a Queenslander I know how important this help will be in regions like this one.”

Federal Minister for Emergency Management Kristy McBain:

“It’s our job to be there for all Australians, no matter what disasters we face, and this major investment speaks to that responsibility.

“Recovery is a long road and it takes time to reach the end, but today we’re telling Queenslanders that we’ll get there together.”

Queensland Minister for Disaster Recovery Ann Leahy:

“The local knowledge of our mayors and industry bodies is crucial to the shape of these support measures.

“For our farmers, communities and families, we’ve listened and we’re getting on with the work.”

Paddling at the beach at Broulee this summer holidays, I can’t help being reminded of the last time I kayaked.

It was in Newcastle for Rising Tide 2025 – but then I was surrounded by hundreds of other kayakers chanting at a passing coal ship.

The energy was high – kids splashing in the shallows, drummers providing protesters with a beat to chant to, the Oldies Rising crew helping people into kayaks, and young people cruising down the art raft water slide into the ocean.

This joyous event brought people together from around the country to call on the Federal Labor Government for real climate action, with three key asks:

1. Immediately cancel all new fossil fuel projects.
2. Tax fossil fuel export profits at 78% to fund community and industrial transition and pay for climate damage.
3. End coal exports from Newcastle – the world’s largest coal port – by 2030.

These calls go to the heart of our biggest contribution to climate change – our fossil fuel exports.

Including emissions from exported fossil fuels, Australia, a country with only 0.3 per cent of the global population, controls 5 per cent of global emissions.

That is our biggest opportunity to tackle the climate crisis, but the Albanese Government won’t touch it.

I attended Rising Tide with my ACT Greens colleagues, all of us decked out in broad-brimmed hats, sunscreen and huge grins. If you didn’t look at the police hovering close by, it really did feel like a festival.

Beyond a series of yellow buoy markers were three different kinds of police boats, including the ominous, black balaclava-clad marine forces-style zodiacs, plus a handful of police jet skis for good measure.

All waited threateningly for those who dared stray past the buoys into the marine exclusion zone and risk arrest.

Things were calm until I heard sudden chanting through megaphones: “Go, reds go! Reds, go!”, and suddenly there were dozens of people beyond the buoys.

A coal ship was coming and the protesters were determined to stop it.

This was the third time I’d heard the ‘red’ signal at this year’s Rising Tide.

This year, Rising Tide’s strategy and execution sharpened.

There were multiple arrestable actions in waves across the weekend.

Swimmers weren’t part of the original plan until just days before the event, but the idea was quickly incorporated into the strategy.

Greenpeace took one coal ship into their own hands out at sea, leaving protesters free to focus on other incoming ships.

In total, 10 coal ships were rescheduled, three turned around, and eventually the port was closed for the weekend.

Almost the same number of people were arrested, despite over 1,000 more attendees, but many more coal ships were stopped and delayed than last year.

Police activity was notably different, with people being given ample opportunity to return to the beach before they were arrested, and less antagonism and confrontation on the beach and at camp.

People suspect this is an attempt to take the wind out of our sails by giving us fewer arrests to draw attention to.

It didn’t work.

In 2026, Rising Tide is ‘levelling up’, transitioning from civil disobedience to civil resistance.

Rising Tide describes this as “commencing waves of sustained, escalatory and disruptive actions”.

This is a warning sign to governments and industry that the status quo is not accepted by a growing constituency, and people are increasingly willing to do something about it.

This is because people are worried about their survival and the future of the planet.

Stakes are high.

In the first term, the Albanese Government approved 27 new coal and gas projects.

There have been four already this term, including the North West Shelf climate bomb that will pollute for decades, well beyond the net zero target of 2050.

Here in the ACT, previously a nation-leading jurisdiction on climate, Labor has announced it will miss its interim climate targets and struggle to meet net zero by 2045. There have been no new climate change policies announced yet to remedy this.

It’s hardly surprising that people are resorting to direct action and peaceful protest.

People are losing faith that governments will take the necessary steps to phase out the fossil fuel industry.

Amongst the overwhelm of organisations asking for people to sign onto their calls, engage and donate – Rising Tide provides a unique flavour of activism that is both effective, and inclusive.

Rising Tide has something for everyone – the oldies and youngens, the people hanging out to get arrested, and the families wanting to contribute by sitting on the beach and cheering them on.

Rising Tide is a true people-powered movement and it’s not backing down.

Governments in Australia have been put on notice – as the climate crisis escalates, so will we.

This article was originally published in The Point

Australia must uphold international law and oppose US attacks on Venezuela and the kidnapping of its President and his wife.

The US attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of its President and his wife is a gross breach of international law and continues the world on a dangerous path of lawless aggression.

Australia has a stake in an international order underpinned by international law, peace and non-aggression and this latest US attack is a fundamental breach of these principles.

Trump’s assault on Venezuela provides comfort to Vladimir Putin for his aggression in Ukraine, cover for a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan and sets an extremely dangerous precedent.

Greens Foreign Affairs spokesperson Senator David Shoebridge said:

“Lawlessness without consequences helps dictators, tyrants and aggressors. It places the world on a very dangerous footing.”

“This US war is not about self-defence, like so many before it, this is a war about resources, oil and dominance.

“Donald Trump is taking dystopian steps to divide the world into zones where major powers dominate, where international law and decency take a back seat to power and greed. This can only happen when middle powers like Australia ignore, or worse support, the US when they flaunt international law.

“The people of Venezuela deserve the right to live in peace and elect their government, the actions of the US today will put these basic rights further out of reach. We have seen time and time again that the true victims of US regime change operations and wars are always civilians.

“Australia must urgently reassess its relationship with the US, which was previously sold on shared values of democracy and an international rules-based order. That relationship, if it ever truly existed, is now in tatters.

“This is a moment in time to start removing US troops and bases from Australia and to gain military and economic independence from the US, not to double down on AUKUS.

“This illegal and illegitimate attack on Venezuela demonstrates how dangerous it is to have a large US military presence in Australia with thousands of troops under the direct control of any foreign government, let alone Donald Trump.”