Anthony Albanese makes last-minute election stop in flood-ravaged Maryborough

Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese has made a detour to disaster-affected Maryborough to spruik his party’s mitigation promise.

Federal Labor Anthony Albanese has used a last-minute detour in his battleground Queensland blitz to praise the efforts of frontline emergency service workers in flood-ravaged Maryborough, pitching a $200m a year funding pool for disaster mitigation as the “right amount”.

It comes as the Opposition also called on the federal government to bring back financial support packages for businesses struggling due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

A peak Queensland industry body has also tentatively called on both levels of government to consider monetary support, saying the “most impacted businesses” needed to “directly target” financial help.

Mr Albanese’s pre-election campaign blitz of the state was due to end in Brisbane on Friday, but instead detoured to Maryborough where he met with emergency personnel and volunteers.

Against the backdrop of the flood recovery effort the Labor leader spruiked the party’s promise to revamp an existing emergency response fund to focus $200m annually on projects that mitigate natural disasters.

Anthony Albanese holds a press conference at Maryborough. Picture: John Wilson

Asked why more money shouldn’t be allocated to mitigation efforts out of the fund, Mr Albanese said it was the “right amount” but didn’t rule out funding projects out of different pots of money if needed.

The promised revamp of the Emergency Response Fund has been welcomed by the Australian Local Government Association, insurer Suncorp and the sector’s peak body Insurance Council of Australia.

According to analysis by ALGA $200m a year on disaster mitigation could create more than 1800 jobs and put $20m back into Australia’s GDP.

Meanwhile, Opposition treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers called on the federal government to provide financial support to struggling small businesses, saying any help should “match the conditions that people confront”.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland general manager Amanda Rohan said nearly half of businesses the body had surveyed had experienced major or critical staffing issues in the last month.

“We’re hearing there is a need for those most impacted businesses to be financially supported,” she said.

“Any support package made available must be directly targeted and of joint state and federal support.”