Doorstop - National Situation Room, Canberra

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Australians across the country are facing extreme and dangerous weather conditions, with bushfires burning in multiple states, but particularly Victoria and severe weather across Far North Queensland and the North West Queensland region. My thoughts are with Australians in these regional communities at this very difficult time. Once again, I remind people to follow the advice of authorities. This is a time where Australians are once again, showing that at the worst of times, we see the best of the Australian character. We see volunteers helping their fellow Australians. We see the Rural Fire Service, we see emergency services, police, we also see our federal authorities, particularly the National Emergency Management Agency here in Canberra that's coordinating activity and making such a positive difference since its establishment just a few years ago. What this means is that responses can be very fast, and today already, I've had discussions with the Victorian Premier and the Queensland Premier, as well as being in regular, ongoing contact which will continue over coming days. I want to specifically send my thoughts to those Victorians who have had the devastating news that they've lost their homes over the last 24 hours. This will be incredibly traumatic for them, and one of the issues that needs to be dealt with, of course, in the aftermath of something like this, is for mental health support to be provided at this time.

Overnight, the Victorian Premier has declared a state of disaster in 18 local government areas. She notified me after 10 o'clock last night that that had occurred. Our minister, Kristy McBain, is travelling to Victoria today to lead our federal response. There are multiple dangerous bushfires burning across Victoria, some of which pose a threat to life and property for those who live, work or holiday in those areas. And the situation is far from over, and a massive firefighting effort is underway as we speak. This is a crucial time for Victorians, for them to listen to the advice of emergency services and being ready to enact emergency plans. And of course, the Victorian Government, in triggering that state of disaster gives them powers to take action to make sure that more people aren't put into dangerous situations - whether they be members of the population or indeed those volunteers and emergency service workers who also want to minimise the risk to them. The ADF have been requested to provide accommodation support for the Victorian Country Fire Service, and once again, we see our Defence Force personnel providing that support, both through personnel, but also through infrastructure. This includes access and use of Gaza Ridge Barracks in South Bandiana and potentially other facilities in the state, if required. Orders have been issued to action this request. In other states, advice remains to listen to the advice of emergency services, regularly checking for updates online or through media, and being ready to enact those emergency plans.

In Queensland, I've just had a good discussion with Premier Crisafulli, he was speaking from their emergency centre about to have a meeting there in Queensland. In Queensland, a tropical low is slowly developing and is expected to move across the coast, south of Townsville at this point in time. But this is a moving weather system, so people in that entire region need to stay alert. There is now a high chance of this system intensifying further, so we need to, between now and tomorrow, when it's expected to cross the coast, be vigilant about seeking advice there. Heavy rain is already falling, of course, and is expected to continue over the weekend. Dangerous and life threatening flash flooding will become a risk along the Queensland East Coast. Once again, I remind people, if it's flooded, forget it. Do not risk it. If there is water on the road and you can't see the bitumen, then you don't know what is below the water. And too many lives have been risked in people thinking that they can just drive through. And that also, of course, places risk for those people who need to go in to provide assistance. Because rivers are already up and the ground is already saturated, it means waterways, creeks and rivers will tend to rise faster and higher than people may be used to. The Premier told me this morning as well that already the figures are something like 40,000 stock lost, but that figure is expected to be far higher over coming days, those assessments will come in.

I'll call for Brendan Moon, the NEMA Coordinator-General, to make some comments.

BRENDAN MOON, NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY COORDINATOR-GENERAL: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. This morning in Victoria, very much the focus is on building containment lines, bringing fires under control, and starting those initial damage assessments. We know there have been impacts, obviously, to people's homes, to businesses, to farming communities throughout Victoria, but right now that focus, still in an active fire situation is to keep people and also property safe. We're working very, very closely with the Victorian Government to ensure that the required support from a Commonwealth level and also from interstate is provided so that they can manage this particular emergency as well as they can. But we also have a focus on Queensland as well, and ensuring that they are well prepared, and those communities are well prepared for the forthcoming weather event that is expected to cross on Sunday morning. With many of those communities already having received very, very high rainfall totals catchments are full, so that we do expect that will there will be flooding from a flash flood perspective and a riverine flood perspective that communities will have to respond to. So once again, our message is very much around listening to the emergency management authorities, preparing yourself as a community and being prepared to respond as quickly as possible as we transition out of this particular weather emergency. Thank you.

PRIME MINISTER: Can I just make comments about one further issue that has been raised with me, which is the issue where Prime Minister Keir Starmer has certainly raised of what has occurred on the social media platform X, the use of generative artificial intelligence to exploit or sexualize people without their consent, is abhorrent. I know that the eSafety Commissioner is looking at this. The fact that this tool was used so that people were using its image creation function through Grok is, I think, just completely abhorrent. It, once again, is an example of social media not showing social responsibility. And Australians and indeed, global citizens deserve better. Thanks.