 Good morning everybody. Okay, are you ready? Queensland continues to face the prospect of two very significant weather events in the next five days. These are two quite different events and the Weather Bureau, Jim Davidson, is referring to them as potentially a David and a Goliath, and that is we are expecting Topical Cyclone Anthony to be the first event that we'll experience and for it to be potentially quite smaller than the second event. The Cyclone Warning has now been issued for Tropical Cyclone Anthony so the Cyclone Sirens will now be being heard. This event is likely to occur sometime between 10pm tonight and 4am tomorrow morning. So we are expecting to see Tropical Cyclone Anthony make landfall overnight tonight. It could be as early as 8 o'clock tonight but more likely after 10pm and into the early hours of Monday morning. Most likely place for landfall at this stage is into the Burtican, potentially around the Air Home Hill area. However, there is anywhere on 50km either side of that needs to be on high alert. This is a system that is likely to bring with it. Rainfall of around 2 to 300mm but could have 400mm in parts and we do expect this to have while it is the smaller event it should not for 1 minute underestimated. This is a Tropical Cyclone that is expected to bring winds of 140km an hour. Winds over 120km an hour are regarded as destructive. So depending on where it makes landfall we do expect to see some damage out of Tropical Cyclone Anthony. We have, as I said we've issued the Cyclone Warning. All disaster groups in the vicinity are on full alert and evacuation centres are ready and able to take people post the event should they be needing shelter out of their own homes. It's important to understand that a Cyclone event is different to a flood that rises slowly and isolates people. What we're looking for with the evacuation centres is that they would only be operationalised after the cyclone crosses the coast and only if necessary. The advice to everybody is shelter in your own home and to take all reasonable precautions to keep your home safe. Take the outdoor furniture in remove anything that could become a missile. So people in the Burdickan area around Townsville, Burdickan Home Hill Air today is a time to batten down the hatches and make sure that you and your family are safe. We are continuing to have very serious concerns about the second weather formation off the coast of Queensland. This formation is very large. It is likely to formally form into a tropical cyclone today and be formally named today. A Cyclone watch we expect will be issued to borrow in relation to that event and at this stage the current modelling has brought forward by 12 hours the likely landfall of time to Thursday morning. So we are looking at Cyclone coming across the coast at this stage late tonight or early Monday morning and another potentially as early as Thursday morning. The second system is a very large system. It is a very large rainfall system as well as potentially a very significant cyclone. So we are looking at not only a potential damaging cyclone but more very heavy rainfall which depending on where it falls could fall into river catchments and cause further flooding into the cyclone. There is likely to be very significant gale force winds associated with the second event and I'll ask Jim to say a little more about that in a moment. In relation to our preparedness for these two events yes we have come through a very difficult time and our emergency resources have certainly been tested in the last couple of weeks. They have however I want to reassure people had ample opportunity to restore themselves and replenish we are not battle weary we are battle ready and our highly trained people are well rested and they are ready to respond. So we'll continue to monitor these two events but there is no doubt that we are certainly facing a tropical cyclone overnight and we'll be watching the second event with a great deal of concern and giving you updates whenever there is further information to hand. Just in relation to preparations in the Townsville region Abbott Point Coal Terminal has been closed, Hay Point has three boats just leaving this morning and it will then close all towns for ferries to both Magnetic and Palm Island are now ceased operations and the Sunlander train north bound this morning and south bound from Cairns have been cancelled this morning. So all reasonable preparations from the major transport routes are also being taken. Do you want to add something Jim? Thanks Premier and good morning everyone I'm not too sure I can add much more to what the Premier has said actually she's covered both systems fairly well the Cyclone Cyclone Anthony at the moment is a category 1 but we expect it to become a category 2 by 2pm this afternoon and once it becomes a category 2 it has destructive winds associated with it now the destructive winds could be up to 40km an hour and we expect those to impinge on the coast sometime after dark tonight so anytime from 7 or 8pm onwards the area between about air and bowen could see those destructive winds. The extent of the Gale Force winds with Anthony is probably no more than 100-150km the difference between this system and the next one is such that the Gales associated with the second system the extent could be several 100km 300-400km so much larger system as the Premier said more rain associated with it and it will bring with it also a storm tide threat so we're watching of course Anthony very closely but we've also got our eye on the second system because of the potential it has to cause real problems along the coast. Did you want to add anything? Premier thank you I would certainly add to the Premier's words and warnings today is the day for people in that Townsville and Burdick area from Cardwell down across the Pine to fine-tune their preparations to make sure their windows are taped to bring in those last necessities those batteries we've talked about to make sure that anything that could turn into a missile is tied down to automate the power of any weather event such as tropical cyclone Anthony and I'd ask people to take this very seriously and to listen and monitor their radios and the media for the warnings that will come over the next 12 to 24 hours. Thank you. The models well I wouldn't say that was the case but the models have been absolutely consistent now for some days in generating a large tropical disturbance in the Fiji's area of responsibility and moving it westward towards the Queensland coast. In fact consistent too has been the fact that system has made landfall somewhere along the central Queensland coast on Thursday of this coming week. So I guess we have a lot more credibility in what the models are telling us when the model runs are consistent from one to the next. It's not really inevitable but there's a good likelihood that we'll see a fairly large system on the Queensland coast by Thursday. How unusual is it to get that level of consistency with all the models? As time goes on the models are becoming more sophisticated they are getting better enabling us to put more credibility into them. It's quite unusual though to have a forecast this far out I think the models were first picking this up four or five days ago and we're still four or five days from landfall so we're looking at a nine or ten day forecast which is quite incredible really considering so it doesn't happen very often and I guess that's why we're taking it seriously. The very fact all the major models have been predicting this now for some days makes us think the potential is quite good. How does it compare to previous models? Yeah well it's not so much the intensity and I should stress that at the moment what we see is a very large system there's a weak correspondence between the size of the system and the intensity but it's not a very strong one so it could still come if it does come as sure as a category two and yet have a large aerial impact that is gales and rain over quite a large area but it's just too far to make a call on what the intensity might be at landfall. The second system we've put on alert all communities between about Cooktown and Harvey Bay so being so far from the Queensland coast and quite a few days ahead we're playing it safer I guess and it's possible that anywhere between those towns could see part or all of this new system. Premier what we're... Well on the one hand these models help us to get ready and be prepared but on the other they certainly let us know what we might be in for and this is a very disturbing weather pattern. When I look at the satellite map we're taking it very very seriously and making sure that we're as prepared as you could reasonably be for something of this size. In Townsville shelters have been opened predominantly for people who are either homeless in circumstances such as caravan parks. This is but people who have a home are much safer in their own home and we encourage people to shelter in place every location that might be facing this possibility does have evacuation centres identified they will activate them when they know exactly where it's fallen and what the implications are. So there is in Townsville some people staying in a shelter now but these are people who as I said are homeless and you don't want people and you don't want people living in the parks on something like this hits or who are in very temporary combinations such as caravan parks. You say battle ready, not battle weary is there a precedent for emergency services in Queensland dealing with two systems of this size coming ashore in this period of time? I might ask Jim to answer that in terms of the history of it but certainly not in my living memory. I think the last time this happened was several years ago in 2006 when cyclone Lowry crossed the coast we had another cyclone following behind it at that stage just three days or so behind it and very fortunately for Queensland the second cyclone dipped southwards and went down across the Tasman Sea but at that time the models were telling us that cyclone would move across the Tasman Sea and not impact Queensland. The difference this time around is the models are telling us that that new system will continue to move west towards the Queensland coast. If infrastructure is damaged by these two cyclones would you foresee that perhaps money from the flood levy will be then used to pay for some of that reconstruction? Look clearly we don't know what is likely to be the outcome of these two events we will do what we always do and that is respond to them and prepare for them first then respond to them and make sure that we can keep as many people as safe as possible and then we will look at what the recovery and what its implications are and how we will fund it I just think it's a bit too early to be speculating about damage when we don't even know if that will occur Let me deal with cyclone larry appeal There are what I regard to be very irresponsible reports this morning that there is funds that were denied people in cyclone larry this is absolutely untrue Firstly every single dollar that was donated to the cyclone larry appeal has gone to a victim of cyclone larry In addition to the donated funds remember there was some $21 million $21.8 million donated there was some interest accrued because it was in a bank account and you'd expect the interest to accrue some of that interest was then spent on helping fix community organisations such as the rebuilding of a CWA hall there are some funds remaining out of that interest some $700,000 that money cannot be transferred until all claims have been settled and there is one outstanding claim that is the subject of a dispute between the owner of the home and the builder and we have a contingency for that outcome when that is settled we will look to reallocate those funds but can I say a couple of things one, every single eligible claim in the cyclone larry fund was paid and every single dollar that was donated was paid to a victim of cyclone larry there is some remaining interest funds even after the fund paid every single victim they still had some money so what they did was go and rebuild some of the community facilities that had been damaged including as I said a CWA hall as my remember it was a bowls club after that there was some remaining interest funds and as a report that was made public this last year outlined any remaining funds would be reallocated to future disaster appeals and that's what's going to happen but it can't transfer until all legal claims against it are finalised and that has yet to happen any suggestion that there is money sitting idle that could be helping people is utterly without foundation and is an irresponsible and false claim we have thousands of Queenslanders right now who are in pain who are hurting, who need the appeal funds and who need people to have confidence in donating stories this morning about money sitting idle after cyclone larry is completely and utterly wrong and I'm very very distressed to see anybody put any doubt in people's minds about donating to these sorts of appeals you cannot that's right you cannot wind up legally until all claims against it are finalised so that we expect to happen within a couple of weeks but let's be clear these things take years the people who have had their lives torn apart cannot be expected and I don't expect them to be able to make the best decision for themselves and their families immediately in every case and we learnt that in cyclone larry people needed time to decide whether they were going to rebuild in Innisvale or whether they were going to move or give people that time if they needed the last claims against cyclone larry were finalised in December last year that's how long it took for some people and so the $700,000 that is a crewing interest that cannot legally be transferred at this point because of that building dispute is a crewing interest it is not idle, it is making money that will then be used for victims of this terrible flood event look I don't know I'm happy to have a look for you but ultimately what happened in cyclone larry was people were very touched by the circumstances they saw in Innisvale and we ended up with slightly more money than we needed to repair people's lives and get them back on their feet and that money was interest not donations and what will that money go to it will go to current flood victims and they will need every cent I just say to everybody those who might be going to make a donation at the cricket today or through any other event that's being held around Australia our government has a strong track record of making sure that every person who has an eligible claim gets paid and every donation is used to help people and that's what we will do don't let irresponsible media reports undermine your confidence and your generosity people here in Queensland still need your help I was in the Lockyer Valley yesterday and I can tell you that there are people there whose lives will take years to get back on track money will make a big difference but we are going to have to continue to look after people for a long time so please don't let your confidence in this be undermined by what I regard as seriously irresponsible media reports the appeal is around the $186 million mark and I am very pleased that Cricket Australia today will be making a very big effort through the One Day International at the GABA to build on that base I certainly want to see these numbers climb we've got a number of big events that will generate more funds and we need them this event has affected thousands of people it is of a magnitude way beyond Cyclone Larry and way beyond anything that any state of Australia has had to deal with in terms of the number of houses and the number of lives that have been affected so we still need your help Australia we thank you for your generosity to date but Queensland still needs your help it is just impossible for any one level of government to overcome the scale and dimension of this disaster we need the federal government to fund their share and if they need to do a small levy for a brief period of time frankly I'm very disappointed that Tony Abbott doesn't think that Queenslanders are worth making this contribution because I think Queenslanders are worth every cent and I think it's important to every Australian that Queensland gets back on their feet as quickly as we can I'm not here to comment on the federal budget my view is that we need every level of government all working together and frankly this is a time when I would have thought some bipartisan support at every level of government would help us get through this disaster we'll have a look what we learn out of this disaster I would have thought something like that would be better done on a national basis and I understand there's likely to be some discussions about it but right now we don't have one of those so we've got to deal with what we've got and what we've got is an appeal fund which I thank the generosity of Australians for going to help people do the absolute basics buy a new bed for their son or daughter get a washing machine replace some of the absolute basics of life what the Commonwealth funds the state funds and local government funds do is rebuild roads rebuild bridges rebuild railways the rest of Australia if they want to see reasonable prices for their beef their fruit their vegetables that come out of Queensland we need those export chains rebuilt and operating as quickly as we can I think it's really important that we have a look at these sorts of options I'd want to see what it cost and what the benefits would be before I make a final view on it but it's hard to look at a disaster of this scale and see the people who are devastated by news from their insurance companies that they may not be covered after thinking for 30 years that they were and not reach the conclusion that I think it's really important that we have a look at these sorts of options I'd want to see what it costs to deliver and not reach the conclusion that a country like Australia couldn't do it better in the future as we contemplate what might lie ahead in the next week it would be easier to think that somebody up there has got a grudge against us but frankly this is just what the weather in a tropical state does from time to time and we have to be ready to cope for it what we've seen in the last few weeks is an emergency service response and it's one that people can have confidence in and rely on in the weeks in the week ahead look I will be obviously watching that very carefully depending on where this second event lies we may have to think about that but if it doesn't fall in that area I'd be loathed to cancel bookings and diminish some contribution to their local economy so we'll just play that by ear