 Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much indeed for your time today and just to bring you up to date on what's happening in regards to the disaster management situation that is still going on in Queensland. I can advise that flood levels continue to rise in Rockampton. We are predicting a peak tomorrow of 19.4 as has been widely reported and we're also anticipating some peaks down in Thallen on Saturday of about 5.3 meters and St George of 14. I know from the bomb site, the Bureau of Meteorology site, that they say to expect peaks slightly higher than that experienced in March 2010. The water levels still remain around Deer and Bandy and Surat has a peak passing through there now and Theodore the water levels are starting to drop. This is a prolonged flooding event in Queensland and it is unlikely to recede in the very near future and we expect that the once the peaks have been reached in and around a lot of these centres that the waters will remain high. That is about major flood levels for some days after that event. Reef supply still remains a focus for Rockampton and we understand that the Bruce Highway northbound is open and that re-supply from Mackay has been provided to Rockampton in that regard. There are assessment teams entering Theodore to make assessment of the safety and also the hygienic conditions in the town and again the feedback from those assessment teams will actually go a long way to determining when residents can actually return. There's also a message that we would like to get out that it doesn't take much water for people walking in flooded waters that are flowing to actually knock people off their feet and it doesn't take much water to move a vehicle from a causeway or a road again where there is water across the road that is flowing and we would remind motorists to be extremely diligent and to obey road closed signs and not to take unnecessary risks and where water is across the road not to drive on that road. We continue to move water into Dolby to support the Dolby community. The Dolby community are applauded for their efforts in reducing the water consumption and the progress in actually addressing the water issues in Dolby are well progressed. If people do require assistance in relation to cleanup extra supplies of cleaning materials are being placed into these centres and we do encourage people to contact their local disaster management group. Now in regards to the levels of water experience in and around St George I can advise and I've spoken with Australian Defence Force today that they are pre-local or pre-positioning two Navy Sea King helicopters to Roma and we thank the Australian Defence Force for their assistance. This provides greater capacity in that area for reach back should the need require and again they'll be working very closely with the disaster district management group and also the local disaster management group. I'd now like to pass to Warren Britson who is the Acting Assistant Director General of EMQ for any comments. Thank you very much and good afternoon. A couple of issues I'd like to bring to your attention this afternoon and one is a lot of good news in that we're arranging now for 30 extra state emergency service volunteers from Victoria to come up to Queensland and we're planning to deploy those volunteers into theatre where there's a need for assistance with the people moving back to their homes. The other issue is we're working very closely with the Rockampton local disaster management group but also the Australian Retailers Association and helping them smooth the way to get restocking into Rockampton. You heard the superintendent say that the road to the north is open but that was a very slow way so now we're helping the Retailers Association by working with other government departments to make the way more smooth to use barges out of Gladstone into Rosland Bay. So that's happening and the Retailers in Rockampton are restocking their shops by that method. We're also arranging some resupply into Jericho, a small town which is run out of groceries and the government has asked us to look at how we can get some supplies from Brisbane into Jericho and EMQ is doing that at the moment. Thank you. If I have any questions that anyone may have? When will those busiest volunteers come when they are coming now? Yes, not today. We're working with Victoria so by the time we arrange their flights we expect them to be here probably tomorrow evening and hopefully the next day into Theodore but we're progressing that as quickly as possible because people want to move back to Theodore in the very near future. What that allows for? Their jobs will be helping people to return to their homes by cleaning the homes, helping them take out of the homes things that have been destroyed and we will be assisting or they will be assisting people who need assistance. Many people are able to do it themselves, others aren't. So we're not allowed clean vacancy and policies to? This is extra resources that we're required but of course we're having a fatigue management program in place and it won't necessarily allow the people around Theodore SES to have a break but it will allow us to have others have a break rather than deploy them into Theodore. Well 30 from Victoria, we currently have five disaster management specialists in the room with us now from Victoria. We're getting four from New South Wales and we believe we're getting six from New Zealand so it's a matter of bringing people in as they're required. We saw a need for Theodore, we took up Victoria's offer. No, not from interstate. We put our own people into Dolby. Thank you very much indeed. Well in relation to the floodwaters we understand that people are keen to return home and again with reports of diminishing water levels in various parts of the state some people may decide and take the opportunity to travel home. What we're saying to people is that just because one section of the road is clear doesn't mean to say that the whole section of the road is clear and so what we're saying to people is if the road has water across the road please do not drive on the road that is flooded. There are washouts, there have been a number of reported cases and there was a case last week in the Western Darling Downs where a four-wheel drive driving in 300 mls of water suddenly ended up to the roof in water and it places at grave risk the occupants of that vehicle and getting out of the vehicle and it's something that we're very mindful of. There have been 10 deaths associated with the event and we do not want any more. 10 deaths just to clear something up, includes the guy that's still missing from the thing you told us about. I believe so yes. Has it only been raised on that search? No I don't have the latest sorry. Just Jericho, how big is Jericho and how are you going to get the groceries or whatever back into there? Well at the moment the road to Jericho I believe although it was open there's still the subject to significant damage and I believe that those resupplies will be taken by vehicle. Is that correct? Yeah thank you. By vehicle to Jericho. Tomorrow. Tomorrow? Yeah. And we're talking sort of a lot of stuff? No, no just essential supplies. The grocery shop in Jericho have been speaking to the proprietor and they've actually out of the essential supplies so that's what we'll probably do. Probably a pallet and we'll put it on a freight truck tomorrow. Can you tell us a bit more about the barges out of Gladstone? Yes we've currently got two barges in operation. They're transporting, well they're transporting all of the goods that Woolworths and Coles and IGA require in Rockhampton. They're also back loading pineapples so that issue is being in some way sold. So there's two 24 foot barges currently being used and we're just helping them to access two other larger barges than 24 meter barges. So they're going from Gladstone to Roslyn Bay and then on the way back they're bringing the pineapples out. Yes. The extra barges showing that. That's up to the Australian Retailers Association. They're hiring them. We're not doing that. We're just smoothing the way through Marine Safety Queensland and Department of Transport for them to actually use the facility. When did they start and was that those two barges today? Yes I did yeah the prepositioning of two Navy seeking helicopters from the Stone Defence Force. There's a quantity. I'm not sure what that quantity is but it was quite significant. Any other questions? I don't have a great deal of detail in that regard. The probably the local Disaster Management Group is the one for that detail but what I am advised is that the supply of water in Dolby is keeping up with the demand and that's why we thank the people at Dolby for their good work in reducing their consumption of water from their normal rate to what is level six and that is a huge effort by that community and we do thank them for their understanding and their patience in that regard. Well I would say to you that the disaster management system is being around for some time now. It is prepared all the time to manage disasters. If we got another one, if we had another event I would say to you that we are well prepared. We are actually up and running and that you know we don't have to start because we're already started and we're in different phases of the recovery so the prevention and preparedness the planning that's been done by local governments has been outstanding. It's really helped pave the way for what has been a long road in response and will be an even longer road in recovery that the recovery part to this is going to be is not going to be small. It is still going to be ongoing and as we've been advised some of those flood waters will remain for some period of time so I would say to you that we are prepared because we're currently looking at about half the state as we speak so yeah. Just how successful has the air lift been from yesterday? The reports that we've had has been very successful as I indicated yesterday it's really important that we marry up need against what we lift into the communities so we are listening very closely to what local governments and also what disaster management groups are saying to us and my understanding is that the air lift yesterday was good and that the resupply issue is something that we're paying very close attention to but resupply as I said yesterday is not just about essential food items into some communities but it's also about cleaning and other equipment that will assist them in returning their homes to a liveable state. I'm advised no not at this time and I think that if there was going to be any issues there that probably the local disaster groups would be the best ones to place that coin but as of the reports that has not been raised as an issue for Rockhampton. Thank you very much indeed.