OMEN
03-22-2006, 10:23 AM
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Power ... Larry took out this truck / Jeff Camden
PRIME Minister John Howard has unveiled a multi-million dollar aid package for the victims of Cyclone Larry, offering $10,000 tax-free grants for each small business affected by the disaster.
Mr Howard said during a visit to Innisfail in north Queensland that the Federal Government would also provide unemployment benefits to affected farmers and small businesses for six months.
"The Federal Government has decided to provide as a tax free grant an amount of $10,000 to each farmer or small business affected," he told people in the town which bore the brunt of the cyclone on Monday.
Thousands of people would be eligible for the $10,000 grants, and the total package would eventually run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.
"We believe that is a reasonable and sensible and fair and necessary response to a very, very difficult situation,'' he said.
Earlier, Mr Howard toured the area and came face to face with desperate residents and farmers struggling to recover from the disaster.
Mr Howard, accompanied by Premier Peter Beattie and Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, began his tour of north Queensland by visiting the town of Babinda, where many buildings are damaged beyond repair.
He then moved on to Innisfail, where he met residents, growers and emergency workers in the town's damaged and leaking town hall.
Mr Howard also glimpsed the anger and frustration of locals who have lost so much, some of whom heckled him as he walked down Innisfail's main street.
"Come and wait in line," shouted one person in a line of several hundred people queued up for hours outside government buildings to ask about emergency financial aid.
Mr Howard also visited a devastated banana plantation near Innisfail, where grower Martin Buchanan said: "My house and my family are fine but my living is totally destroyed.''
The Prime Minister said he had talked to banana growers as part of the Commonwealth's desire to road test the package among those it was designed to help.
Mr Howard said he would also look at Government measures to respond to concerns expressed by local business operators that employees may move away from the area.
He said members of the Australian Defence Force, who were deployed to the region from the day of the cyclone, would remain for as long as they were needed.
"From what I have been told they are doing fantastic work," he said. "I say again thank heavens for the men and women of the Australian army, and they will stay for as long as is needed.''
Mr Beazley said Labor fully supported the Government's package.
``We support too the prime minister's caveat on it, which is that this may well be found in certain circumstances not to be adequate and may need to be re-thought," Mr Beazley told Sky News.
"I think there are additional things that will need to be done for tropical fruit growers, I think they do need more public servants in here to handle the pressure which has clearly overwhelmed some of the local population, and there will be I think a requirement to keep it under constant review - but it's a good start.''
Mr Howard said he could not put a final price tag on the package, which would be funded out of the expected $11.5 billion budget surplus this year.
Meanwhile Tropical Cyclone Wati has come to a halt strengthening over the Coral Sea and forecasters admit they cannot predict whether it will turn and follow the destructive path of Larry.
The cyclone, which has been intensifying for the past 24 hours, had been predicted to turn south. Today forecasters said it would "remain off the coast for the next few days" but said that it was hard to predict any movements after that.
Meanwhile, extraordinary stories of heroism and survival have emerged as people have been recounting their experiences during the storm.
From Innisfail, the town worst-hit, there have been reports of backpackers sheltering in pub toilets. And a couple has told how they watched the top section of their house ripped away.
A father of four has also told how he and his sons went outside, braving 200km/h gusts, to save neighbours who were in a block of flats where the roof had peeled away "like a banana".
News.au
Power ... Larry took out this truck / Jeff Camden
PRIME Minister John Howard has unveiled a multi-million dollar aid package for the victims of Cyclone Larry, offering $10,000 tax-free grants for each small business affected by the disaster.
Mr Howard said during a visit to Innisfail in north Queensland that the Federal Government would also provide unemployment benefits to affected farmers and small businesses for six months.
"The Federal Government has decided to provide as a tax free grant an amount of $10,000 to each farmer or small business affected," he told people in the town which bore the brunt of the cyclone on Monday.
Thousands of people would be eligible for the $10,000 grants, and the total package would eventually run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.
"We believe that is a reasonable and sensible and fair and necessary response to a very, very difficult situation,'' he said.
Earlier, Mr Howard toured the area and came face to face with desperate residents and farmers struggling to recover from the disaster.
Mr Howard, accompanied by Premier Peter Beattie and Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, began his tour of north Queensland by visiting the town of Babinda, where many buildings are damaged beyond repair.
He then moved on to Innisfail, where he met residents, growers and emergency workers in the town's damaged and leaking town hall.
Mr Howard also glimpsed the anger and frustration of locals who have lost so much, some of whom heckled him as he walked down Innisfail's main street.
"Come and wait in line," shouted one person in a line of several hundred people queued up for hours outside government buildings to ask about emergency financial aid.
Mr Howard also visited a devastated banana plantation near Innisfail, where grower Martin Buchanan said: "My house and my family are fine but my living is totally destroyed.''
The Prime Minister said he had talked to banana growers as part of the Commonwealth's desire to road test the package among those it was designed to help.
Mr Howard said he would also look at Government measures to respond to concerns expressed by local business operators that employees may move away from the area.
He said members of the Australian Defence Force, who were deployed to the region from the day of the cyclone, would remain for as long as they were needed.
"From what I have been told they are doing fantastic work," he said. "I say again thank heavens for the men and women of the Australian army, and they will stay for as long as is needed.''
Mr Beazley said Labor fully supported the Government's package.
``We support too the prime minister's caveat on it, which is that this may well be found in certain circumstances not to be adequate and may need to be re-thought," Mr Beazley told Sky News.
"I think there are additional things that will need to be done for tropical fruit growers, I think they do need more public servants in here to handle the pressure which has clearly overwhelmed some of the local population, and there will be I think a requirement to keep it under constant review - but it's a good start.''
Mr Howard said he could not put a final price tag on the package, which would be funded out of the expected $11.5 billion budget surplus this year.
Meanwhile Tropical Cyclone Wati has come to a halt strengthening over the Coral Sea and forecasters admit they cannot predict whether it will turn and follow the destructive path of Larry.
The cyclone, which has been intensifying for the past 24 hours, had been predicted to turn south. Today forecasters said it would "remain off the coast for the next few days" but said that it was hard to predict any movements after that.
Meanwhile, extraordinary stories of heroism and survival have emerged as people have been recounting their experiences during the storm.
From Innisfail, the town worst-hit, there have been reports of backpackers sheltering in pub toilets. And a couple has told how they watched the top section of their house ripped away.
A father of four has also told how he and his sons went outside, braving 200km/h gusts, to save neighbours who were in a block of flats where the roof had peeled away "like a banana".
News.au