 We are starting to see the situation stabilise across most of regional Queensland affected by floods but that does not mean that we are out of the woods yet. We're seeing very heavy rainfall in the Bundaberg and Burnett area and we've seen some very heavy rainfall here in the southeast with more heavy rain predicted and on the way. There is a very close watch being kept on the community of St George today as they face a very long, slow wait for those waters to reach their peak and they will then face a very long, slow wait for the waters to recede. We expect to see the peak in St George sometime between Sunday and Monday and we then could see those waters stay at those levels for anywhere up to seven days. So the flood waters around St George are there for the foreseeable future. As we start to see the waters recede in many parts of our flood affected regions I think it's very important to understand that as the waters go down that is the time when the need for patience is only just beginning. As the water recedes that does not mean that life returns to normal quickly. The fact that water has receded off our roads does not mean that they will be immediately reopened. They will have to be tested and cleared before we can put traffic on them and we will put safety first. Similarly, the fact that waters have receded out of people's neighbourhoods does not mean that they can immediately get into their homes. They will have to be certified as safe by an electrician and we will put that safety first. So we can certainly understand that people are impatient and people are frustrated and wanting to get across flooded roads and they want to get back into their homes. We ask now more than ever for patience as our emergency authorities make sure that all of these places are safe before we have vehicles back on those roads and people back in some of those homes. Listening this morning to the statewide hookup it's clear that we have a number of communities starting the process of cleanup. I'm very pleased to see the efforts on the ground to make sure that we continue to have a good supply of food and fuel in all of these areas. We do still have more than 600 homes disconnected from power because there's floodwaters around those homes. We do however have teams of electricians out clearing and certifying the houses that can be accessed and those teams are on the job today. We are seeing two communities, the people of Condamine and the people of Theodore starting the process of repatriation. For the first time in our history in Queensland we've had to evacuate two whole towns, Theodore and Condamine. Those people are now starting to come back into those towns and of course facing the heartbreaking reality of what they left behind several days ago when they were evacuated. Our thoughts go out to everybody facing this terrible crisis but I particularly say to the people of Condamine and Theodore we understand that your whole town is suffering and we'll be watching with very careful attention over the next few days as you start to bring the town together again. Can I thank everybody who has put their hands in their pockets and donated to the flood relief appeal. Today the Premier's flood relief appeal stands at $17.8 million. $5.3 million of that has come in through the banks so that's overwhelmingly mums and dads digging into their own purses and wallets. So more than $5 million from ordinary Australians close to $12 or $13 million now from corporate Australia and government. $17.8 million will make a difference but we still need more. I look forward to some of the upcoming events that are designed to raise more funds and I thank those who have donated to date. As we see the waters recede it will be tempting for people to start to try and cross roads. We need a very big safety message out there. I'd like to invite Superintendent Brian Codd to make some comments in this regard because our police and emergency workers have been facing some issues out there and some people have been trying to battle floodwaters. Thank you Premier. Good morning. One of the inspirational things that you see in times of devastation is just how well people come together and we've seen that across the length and breadth of Queensland where communities, emergency services and other agencies have come together and supported each other. Unfortunately this is not a time to be complacent and to perhaps rest in the glow of community coming together. There are still many, many challenges that will be in front of us as this disaster is enduring, that it will be a prolonged disaster. We are still some way away from full recovery and in some aspects months and perhaps even years. It is unfortunate in that context that we are still having to deal with people who are prepared to put themselves before their community, before emergency services, by making ridiculous choices in many instances, by still entering floodways against all the best advice from those who are in the know about what to do in these situations. In the last 24 hours alone we have still had two instances across the state where people have chosen to ignore the advice for their own safety and safety of others by driving into floodwaters on one occasion requiring the assistance of the Swift Water Rescue efforts to save that person. This is not just a simple process of those people taking up the time for their safety. That is compromising the ability of the emergency services to put their time and energies into where it's needed, which is where those people are with no choice and with no ability to look after themselves and need our assistance. There's a message that I would like to get across. This is not a time to be complacent. Please revisit those messages that we have been sending out about avoiding going into floodwaters. Another message I would like to convey to all and to reinforce the Premier's words is about expectations here. Yes, we are hopeful and we are very fortunate that the worst has not beset us. Those things that we were anticipating as worst-case scenarios have not hit us as yet, but it's not a time to become complacent. People are very frustrated. We know they want to get back into their homes, but it's going to be some time before we're able to do that. Just because the water recedes from roads or if it recedes beneath the floors of homes does not mean we're ready to immediately move into those areas. The public safety choices will be made here and we would do everything we can to return people to their homes and to their loved ones as soon as we can. The last message that I would convey in support of those is please all be aware that we have deployed extra police throughout the state. Those extra police are there to support the efforts of local communities in recovering, but they are also there to do their job to maintain public safety and security. And if that means enforcing the law, that will be the case. And that extends to the routes in terms of transport that have had to be used since the highways have closed. I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but we need to remind ourselves that we've had a bit of luck so far. There is still more to come. Unless we stay vigilant about those safety messages, we are still putting people's lives at risk. Thank you, Premier. Now I'd like to invite Mr Warren Bidson from the Emergency Management Queensland. Thank you and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As we've been speaking about over a number of days now, you will be aware that we are trying to manage very carefully the deployment of our state emergency service volunteers across Queensland to assist communities in need. And we've also pointed out that a number of state emergency volunteers have remained in places where we thought they would be needed. That has been borne out yesterday, last night, and again this morning, where we've had 350 jobs for the state emergency service in South East Queensland alone. That's on top of the services we are providing to flood affected areas. We had 34 jobs this morning in Brisbane, and 20% of all the calls yesterday actually came from Brisbane. So our strategy in sending state emergency service people forward to the flood affected areas but maintaining a presence back in places where we thought they would be needed has paid off. That reinforces the need for people such as the 23 SES volunteers who are coming from Victoria to provide some assistance to us to do that. I've also accepted the offer of four Victorian SES persons to work in my coordination centre here today in the State Disaster Coordination Centre and they've just arrived, so that's some more support we have. And we're looking forward to 15 New Zealanders arriving on Saturday and we're going to ask them to go and assist in theatre. In closing, can I say that state emergency service volunteers are out there preparing to assist people to clean up their homes but as the Premier and the Superintendent have said, the state emergency volunteers should not be expected to enter communities or homes until such time as they've been made safe by the authorities. Thank you. We are now starting to see the situation stabilise but we are very, very mindful that we've got some heavy weather around and I don't think we're out of the woods by a long way. This is a long, slow recovery but we may see further incidents requiring emergency response before we're in full recovery mode. But the scale of this incident cannot be underestimated. It is the single largest event that Queensland has had to face in its history. The magnitude of the area that is covered, the number of roads that are cut off, the logistical supply issues are without precedent. I think we can be very proud of the emergency response out there. Our volunteers, our emergency personnel, our police, our Defence Force are working on the ground in an unprecedented way and keeping people safe and that's what we want to continue. Well, I don't want to start comparing it to budgets post-war for example but with every disaster there are many implications and our priority is fixing the issues that are out there and important for people and that will have some budgetary implications so be it, we're going to put people first. There'll be many people with ideas out of this incident and of course we'll look at them but our first priority without any apologies is rebuilding regional Queensland. Regional Queensland has been hit harder than it's ever been hit before. We need to put all of our efforts into rebuilding and getting these communities back on their feet as soon as possible and finding the resources to do that first. I won't be diverted from that task. Tony Abbott can have ideas. I welcome anybody who wants to talk about the issue but our task right now is to rebuild and that's what we're going to do. Cabinet members out on the ground today. We have the Minister for Emergency Services is in Brisbane today. We've had an opportunity together to sit down and start with the Treasurer looking at some of the cost issues and that's been important in leading up to the work that Mick Slater will do. We've got the Governor-General visiting the people of Condomine today and we have Major-General Mick Slater visiting people in Rockhampton. And what are you putting the cost at currently? Look, it is still far too early to give any accurate predictions on cost. The costs will not only fall to governments. There will be costs for governments at the local, the state and the federal level but there will be costs for insurance companies. There will be costs for major employers like the mining industry, the agricultural sector and there will be costs to many families and individuals. Even with insurance and government assistance there will be financial pressures on those families that have been affected by this. That's why the relief appeal is important and it will make a difference. A figure of $6 billion has been banded around. Is that a ballpark figure? I think every day we're going to see people putting figures into the arena. I think until we see the waters go down and all of the assessments done it's going to be hard to be precise about this but if you add the costs to everybody, not only government, costs to families, costs to insurers, costs to industry and all three levels of government then we are talking about a multi-billion dollar price tag. We are very fortunate to have good friends in other states of Australia. All of the states of Australia who are able to offer us support have done so and we are seeing great work being done to bring extra assistance in to relieve our emergency crews. What we are worried about with some of the rainfall is not at this stage so much greater swelling in the rivers but downfalls in places that are so saturated that they might see some flash flooding in places that they normally wouldn't. We don't expect major events but nevertheless it could be difficult for people. We did see some evacuations last night from the Caravan Park in Dolby as a result of flash flooding. Just as people were coming back into the Caravan Park after the flood last week they've had to move back to the show ground. So that's the sort of issue that's still happening out there on the ground. Mr. Princeton, we're expecting more heavy rain over the southeast of the weekend. Are you expecting flash flooding and will be expecting more calls for help? We do expect more calls for help from the State Emergency Service and that's why our strategy has been to maintain a presence in those areas where the Bureau have predicted there will be heavy rain, yes. And so Superintendent, we are missing more than in Rockhampton. Are you thinking that's donated at all? I'm not in a position to provide you any information on that at this stage. I'd direct you to the local and district management groups. They will be able to assist you with more detail. Great, thank you. Premier, you must be heartened that people like Rob Labor are going to the calls and are offering to donate as well. I'm very heartened by the generosity of Australians and people around the world who are donating to the appeal. It was terrific to see Rob Labor add his support. Rob Labor is one of Queensland's legends. I met with him last year in Los Angeles and I can tell you that his heart is never very far from Rockhampton and it goes through an issue like this. It's great to see people like Rob Labor come out in support of the people of Rockhampton and encouraging others to help them at a time of need. So thanks to Rob Labor. I've been very, very heartened by the response we've got to the appeal. Many people have yet to even come back from holidays and come back to work and start to contemplate making a donation. So we've got a long way to go here. The rate at which people are donating is overwhelming. I thank them and we'll wait and see where we get to. Thanks, folks. Thank you.