Financial help at hand for farmers and small biz owners

A NUMBER of assistance measures have been made available for small businesses, primary producers and non-profit organisations following Cyclone Debbie, and the assessment of the impact is still ongoing.Small business owners, primary producers and those operating non-profit organisations in both the Mackay and Whitsunday local government areas are eligible for concessional interest rates loans for direct damage of up to $250,000 to repair or replace damaged plant, equipment and buildings as well as replace stock.These are offered at an interest rate of 1.16% and no other fees apply.

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Insurers stand ready to assist

I'VE held discussions with the Insurance Council of Australia, as well as one of Queensland’s largest insurers Suncorp, today to discuss assistance measures for people dealing with the after-effects of cyclone and storm surge damage.Suncorp have advised me that they have teams on standby to be deployed on the ground and they are gearing up their call centre capacity to take higher numbers of claim calls in the wake of Cyclone Debbie.While we have to await the outcome of Cyclone Debbie to see just what the extent of the damage is to homes and businesses and crops in the Mackay, Whitsundays, Bowen and Burdekin regions, the Insurance Council of Australia can also declare what they call an ‘insurance catastrophe’ depending on the number of people impacted.

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MP rejects BoM plan to take jobs out of north

BUREAU of Meteorology (BOM) staff paid me a visit in Canberra yesterday to explain their rationale for relocating three staff out of both Mackay and Townsville, but I'm still not convinced it’s the right move.I state again in no uncertain terms that I will not be supporting this change, which removes all on-the-ground weather bureau staff from our regional cities.If the bureau believes it’s a good move then they better get out and start explaining it to the public.

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MP takes up BoM job losses with PM

THE loss of on-ground Bureau of Meteorology staff in Mackay and Townsville was raised directly with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Canberra this morning.It was announced on Friday that bureau staff in both Mackay and Townsville would need to relocate after weather stations switch to fully automated systems between now and 2017.I was informed this morning that this decision to take away all of our on-ground weather monitoring staff from Mackay and Townsville, as well as other centres, was made by the management of the Bureau of Meteorology, rather than Environment Minister Greg Hunt’s office.Regardless of who made the decision, I am seeking to have it reversed.

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Losing BoM staff in the north is not on

LOSING on-the-ground Bureau of Meteorology forecasters in regional Queensland is a potentially life-threatening step for a region that faces extreme weather events.I’m disgusted by this move to cut Bureau of Meteorology staff in regional Queensland, including Mackay and Townsville.The Mackay radar system is notorious for dropping out.A new fully-automated system may be a better system, but the fact that there’s no-one around to fix things if needed is of grave concern.

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