Former NT Chief Minister Shane Stone appointed head of new national recovery and resilience agency

A former Territory chief minister who now gets paid more than the Prime Minister has been promoted as head of Australia’s first natural disaster mega agency.

A FORMER Territory chief minister who now gets paid more than the Prime Minister has been promoted as head of Australia’s first natural disaster mega agency.

The Drought and Flood agency will be subsumed into the new National Recovery and Resilience Agency (NRRA) – a mega-entity borne out of the commonwealth’s response into the bushfire royal commission.

First announced in November last year, the agency will be responsible for advising the government on policies and programs to mitigate the impact of future natural disasters.

Former NT chief minister Shane Stone, who heads up the current drought and flood agency, will be promoted to the NRRA, a move that was immediately slammed by the Opposition Northern Australia spokesman Murray Watt.

“This government has yet again been able to find another job for a Liberal mate, in this case, Shane Stone,” Senator Watt said.

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The latest Drought and Flood agency report revealed Mr Stone was paid $617,000 in 2019/20, about 12 per cent more than Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

His base salary of $443,000, as per the Remuneration Tribunal, is on par with the boss of the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Fair Work Ombudsman, and the head of Cancer Australia.

But Mr Stone, who is currently in Brisbane, said he was not helming the NRRA for the salary.

“That (a pay rise) was not a precondition of me accepting the job,” he said.

Mr Stone said ultimately his salary was set by the independent Remuneration Tribunal.

Referencing the increasing frequency of intense weather and natural disasters brought on by climate change, Mr Stone said the country needed to have “a few tough conversations around a raft of issues”.

National Recovery and Resilience Agency co-ordinator Shane Stone in Townsville. Picture: Evan Morgan

“The Insurance Council of Australia tells us we spend 97 per cent (of disaster funding) cleaning up, but only 3 per cent on preparedness,” he said.

Mr Stone said his first task as the head of the NRRA was to design an equitable grants program for bushfire resilience using the $2bn the government allocated after the disaster but is yet to use.

Mr Morrison said immediate funding would be made available to support resilience projects and for individuals’ homes, such as bushfire and cyclone proofing houses, building levees and improving the resilience of telecommunications and essential supplies.