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More children of Australian veterans and Defence personnel will receive additional support thanks to a new $13.7 million investment in the successful Kookaburra Kids ‘Defence Kids’ mental health program.

This new investment comes as Kookaburra Kids celebrates its 20^th year of providing services. It builds on our Government’s investment of $2.1 million for a pilot of the Defence Kids program in 2016 and $7.7 million to expand the program in 2018.

The additional funding will see the program expanded to more regional areas: Wagga Wagga, Albury/Wodonga, the Mornington Peninsula, Bendigo, Ballarat, and Geelong.

For the first time, services will also be available for children in north and south Tasmania.

The Prime Minister said the Defence Kids program was making a massive difference to the lives of children of Defence families, and the funding would ensure it could reach even more kids and families.

“Being a kid can be tough enough, and there can be added challenges for kids from Defence and veteran families,” the Prime Minister said.

“Often, our Defence kids have to move away from friends, they change schools and they deal with a parent being away for extended periods of time or who may be facing mental health challenges.

“The Kookaburra Kids Defence Kids program helps kids to manage these challenges, and brings them together with others facing similar experiences.

“We want to give our Defence kids as much support as possible, and give our veterans and Defence members the confidence that their families are well looked after. The extension of this program will ensure just that.

“I also congratulate Kookaburra Kids on their 20^th anniversary. From their start in the Shire, to now reaching out across the nation to help thousands more kids, it’s truly great work.”

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel Andrew Gee said the additional funding would grow the program across the regions and provide access to even more kids.

“The Kookaburra Kids program has already had more than 4,300 engagements with children in the Defence and veteran community, and this significant additional investment will see more children reap the benefits,” Minister Gee said.

“Kids aged 8-18 years old can get involved by attending camps and activity days where they develop coping skills and resilience, building up their mental health while understanding their unique experience.

“The program delivers tailored, evidence-based, age-appropriate education, prevention and early intervention mental health services.

“Prevention is key in supporting our Defence kids and providing them with the help they need to thrive. I’m extremely supportive of anything that supports our Defence families.”

The funding will also see face-to-face services continue in all mainland capital cities as well as the regional centres of Townsville, the Hunter, Wollongong, Shoalhaven and the NSW South Coast.

To find out more about the Kookaburra Kids ‘Defence Kids’ program visit: https://kookaburrakids.org.au/our-programs/defence-kids-activities/

The Morrison Government is demonstrating its commitment to supporting the growth of one of Australia’s most important industries by launching a major campaign today highlighting a generation of jobs in Australia’s defence industries.

The “In our own backyard” campaign will begin on television, radio and across social media over the coming days and weeks.

The campaign highlights that the skills Australians have displayed for generations building “stuff” in their backyards are now in great demand to fill the jobs in our growing defence industries, which supply the Australian Defence Force with the products and services it needs to protect Australia and its national interests.

Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said Australia’s defence capability required robust, resilient and internationally competitive defence industries.

“We must be able to build what we need at home to defend ourselves when we need it and the COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on just how critical that is,” Minister Price said.

“The Morrison Government is investing an unprecedented $270 billion in Defence capabilities over the next 10 years.

“The level of Government investment in our defence industries has grown significantly and as a result the number of jobs created to support this growth is increasing at a rapid rate.

“Our significant investment is reliant on us supporting the growth of strong, robust, and skilled Australian defence industries.

“Our nationwide investments in naval shipbuilding alone will create 15,000 jobs across the country by the end of the decade.

“We want Australians to understand that there are and will continue to be incredible opportunities for skilled people within our defence industries and that will continue for many years to come.”

Minister Price said Australia’s many defence industries had been built on Australian creativity and ingenuity and those skills were critical as the nation sought to stay a step ahead of adversaries who would seek to do us harm in a deteriorating strategic environment.

“During the next decade and beyond, this exciting and expanding sector will rely upon a workforce with skills in design, engineering, manufacturing, project management and logistics, as well as all aspects of support services from training and simulation to ICT support,” Minister Price said.

“That is the focus of our new campaign.

“From large multi-national companies to medium and small Aussie businesses, the creativity and ingenuity on display right across Australia points to the fact that there are many opportunities for skilled Australians to find fulfilling, well-paid jobs.

“We must ensure we have the most cutting-edge technology available to the men and women of the ADF.”

Minister Price said she was excited to promote the career opportunities in the new campaign, which would build awareness of the extensive opportunities across a range of sectors that contribute to Australia’s defence capability.

“There will be fantastic opportunities for workers across Australia over the coming decades and we must ensure we harness the skills we have in our own backyard to fill the jobs in our growing and important defence industries,” Minister Price said.

A GROUP OF Australia’s highest ranking, former emergency service chiefs today issued a scathing statement on the Morrison Government’s failure to prepare for and help alleviate the horrific impacts of the flooding disaster.

Emergency Leaders for Climate Action* (ELCA) is launching the statement in Brisbane today, citing evidence that the Government was warned ahead of the 2022 floods and did little. The handling of this disaster echoes the lack of national preparation in the lead up to the Black Summer bushfires when the Government ignored warnings months before the disastrous fires hit.

The press conference coincides with a full page ad in The Courier Mail calling on the Federal Government to better equip emergency services to respond.

Former Commissioner of Fire & Rescue NSW, one of Australia’s longest-ever serving fire chiefs and now leader of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action Greg Mullins said:

“The Federal Government’s fumbling of this flood disaster is Black Summer all over again. Last October, charity leaders met with the Federal Government and were warned of massive flooding this summer. The Government knew what was coming and it did not adequately prepare our communities or first responders.

“Time and again this Government fails to listen to expert advice. There are 80 recommendations of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements gathering dust. The Government has failed to implement them. Our elected leaders in Canberra are failing communities right around the country impacted by this disaster, and the thousands of emergency service volunteers and professionals who willingly place their own lives in danger by responding to increasingly frequent and dangerous climate-fuelled disasters.

“Those of us who do hold hoses know just how dangerous climate change has become. Australia is under-prepared, and Canberra has no answers to how it will rapidly slash emissions this decade.”

Former Commissioner of the Queensland Fire & Emergency Services Lee Johnson, an ELCA member, said: “We Queenslanders are familiar with floods. We live in Australia’s most disaster-prone state. But the disasters of today are not like the disasters of the past. Over my decades of service I experienced floods and bushfires that were more frequent and intense, and cyclones that were more damaging. These climate-fuelled changes led to the fire and rescue service introducing swift-water rescue capabilities under my watch. I remember in that first year we conducted over 100 water rescues of people in serious trouble. In the lead up to these floods even more water was dumped on Queensland than in the lead up to the 2011 disaster – something I thought I’d never see, but the records keep tumbling. This is climate change in action and we’re all in danger.”

Former Deputy Director General of the NSW State Emergency Service, ELCA member and flood expert Chas Keys: “This disaster’s shown us that we can’t continue with business as usual. Bandying about terms like ‘one-in-500 year’ flood is meaningless to people who are experiencing such disasters repeatedly. Above all else, we need the Federal Government to take climate change seriously by cutting back drastically on the mining and burning of fossil fuels. We also need to reset the way we manage disasters, with spending between mitigation versus relief and recovery completely out of kilter. There is no more manageable hazard in Australia than flooding: we know where it will occur, we’re usually warned ahead of it and we can predict what its effects will be. We’re just not managing this risk well, and it hurts us over and over again to a greater extent than it should.”

Former Commissioner and ACT Emergency Services Authority, and ELCA member, Major General Peter Dunn: “I know what it’s like to so helplessly witness my community torn apart by a disaster. During Black Summer the fires ripped through Lake Conjola and soon after, we were dealing with a flood. We had no support. We were left to pick up the pieces ourselves. Communities are once again being left behind and it’s clear the lessons of Black Summer have not been learned. I was among the chorus of voices who in 2019 warned the Morrison government that a severe fire season was coming. And we were ignored. Late last year, the Federal Government was similarly briefed about the high risk of this year’s floods. Yet they were not prepared. After every disaster, the Federal Government initiates an enquiry but fails to implement the recommendations. More than two years after Black Summer and many Australians are still living in tents. Are the victims of these floods to expect the same? As climate change escalates these disasters, history cannot continue to repeat itself. And we can’t expect the ADF to carry the load. The common denominator is the feeling of abandonment and lack of Federal Government preparedness to respond to these increasingly fierce disasters and address climate change at its root cause: the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.”

A third Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster flight has delivered military assistance to the Ukrainian Government.

Greens Leader, Adam Bandt MP, and Greens candidate for the flood affected electorate of Richmond, Mandy Nolan, have announced the Greens will move when Parliament resumes in March to extend government backed insurance to all flood victims.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Cyclone and Flood Damage Reinsurance Pool) Bill 2022 due to be debated in Budget week later this month establishes a mandatory scheme for insurers to reinsure with the government-owned Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC) when providing cover against cyclone related damage. This partial nationalisation of house insurance is designed to keep premiums low by removing much of the profit-taking from cyclone insurance. As the current floods are not cyclone related they are excluded from the scheme.

The Greens will move amendments to the bill in the Senate to extend coverage to all floods, including floods such as those in NSW and QLD and require coal and gas corporations to fund the scheme.

The Greens also want a statutory inquiry to consider the full nationalisation of all climate-related reinsurance for events such as bushfires.

Politicians from other parties have recently spoken in support of extending mandatory reinsurance to all flood victims, suggesting the amendments have a chance of passing the Senate before the election.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said:

“Thousands of homes and businesses will be uninsurable without the Greens’ plan to extend reinsurance to flood victims.”

“The increased severity of climate related floods is pushing the cost of insurance out of reach of many homeowners and businesses, so nationalising cyclone reinsurance is critical but it must cover all flood victims.”

“We call on the government, the opposition and crossbench to back our amendments. Let’s get this done and support flood victims”

“The government is handing public money to the coal and gas corporations that are fuelling these extreme floods. Instead of getting handouts, coal and gas corporations should be footing the bill for the insurance.”

“The scope of the government’s bill is too limited. Damage from the floods in QLD and NSW would not be covered by the government’s legislation as they are not cyclone related floods.”

“The Greens’ amendments would ensure that the NSW and Qld floods would be covered, and would keep insurance premiums for people impacted by these floods lower in the future.”

“With the growing climate crisis, we need a statutory review to consider nationalising reinsurance for all climate related property damage in all parts of Australia.”

Greens candidate for Richmond Mandy Nolan, speaking from the flood disaster zone across the Northern Rivers, said:

“I have just survived this latest flood disaster, but now many in my community are facing the disaster of being uninsurable. We need to act now.”

“This is the front line of the climate emergency.Thousands of homes have been destroyed, many more damaged and people’s premiums are going to go through the roof unless they are covered by the Greens plan.”

“The Parliament needs to urgently pass the Greens amendments in Budget week and help my community recover.”