Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management) (14:57): Thanks again, Senator Sheldon, for your ongoing work when it comes to disaster recovery. On Friday last week I travelled to Normanton and Burketown, Gulf of Carpentaria communities, and was able meet with locals and see the devastating flooding that those communities have experienced firsthand. I want to thank and acknowledge the member for Kennedy, Mr Bob Katter, for his advocacy and for joining me as we toured some of the areas of highest impact. I also thank Senator Green for her ongoing advocacy to both the federal and state governments for these communities. I also want to thank the mayors of the Carpentaria and Burke shires, Jack Bowden and Ernie Camp, as well as other members of the Burke Shire Council, who gave me a tour of some of the damage in the community. In addition, I'll be meeting Mr Camp and the mayor of Doomadgee council, Mr Jason Ned, while they're in Canberra this week. On the same day that I visited these communities we made the Australian government disaster recovery payment available to residents in the Queensland local government areas of Boulia, Burke and Mount Isa. This is the one-off payment of $1,000 per eligible adult and $400 per eligible child, for those who have suffered a significant loss as a result of the floods, including through a severely damaged or destroyed home or a serious injury. Senator McDonald: How long did it take? Senator WATT: Don't worry, Senator McDonald, we'll come to you. We also activated the disaster recovery allowance for the same areas and extended it to the local government areas of Carpentaria, Cloncurry, Doomadgee and Mornington. This is in recognition of the fact that this event has caused significant disruption to people's livelihoods. The disaster recovery allowance provides up to 13 weeks of federal income support to assist people who experience a loss of income as a direct result of a major disaster, such as being cut off from getting to their workplace or the business that they operate. There are many such people in our gulf communities right now. I can inform the Senate that, as of midnight on Monday this week, 1,300 people had received nearly $1 million in payments since claims opened on Friday just last week. That followed other support that began within 24 hours of the floods— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Sheldon, a first supplementary?