HOST, EDDIE WILLIAMS: With those hot and windy conditions sweeping through, a bit of an early warning perhaps of what summer could look like. So, how prepared is the state? How prepared is the country today? Today the Federal Government's been highlighting the National Aerial Firefighting Fleet, which is ready to respond to disasters. Kristy McBain is the Federal Minister for Emergency Management. Good afternoon.

MINISTER FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, KRISTY MCBAIN: Good afternoon, Eddie.

HOST: What is the National Aerial Firefighting Fleet? How will it work?

MCBAIN: So, every year we put in money to the National Aerial Firefighting Fleet. We've done so since we came to Government because we recognised that there was a gap in capability. So, we contribute about $50 million to add to the fleet that's already available through states and territories. The National Aerial Firefighting Fleet is the very large tankers that you see, two fixed wing aircraft and also three rotary wing aircraft which provide assistance to the states and territories and they are strategically positioned around the country. There is about 160 firefighting aircraft right around the country deployed by states and territories. So, we've got everything from those small helicopters to fixed wings, so from the very small to the very, very big.

HOST: So, do the states and territories own all the aircraft in the fleet or how does that work?

MCBAIN: There's a mix of ownership and leased equipment right across the country for a variety of reasons. But we want to make sure that regardless of which state or territory you're in, we've got capability that's available wherever you are. That's why the RAAF Richmond Air Base is one of those locations across the country because it has really quick access to the entire east coast of the country.

HOST: How do you deploy that capability? When would that happen?

MCBAIN: So that capability is deployed in conjunction with New South Wales RFS or any other state or territory RFS division. And it's based on what the intel is on the ground and what capability they'll need. The important thing about our National Aerial Firefighting Fleet is we've now got a range of multi-use equipment. So, aircraft that can respond immediately after a flood or a cyclone or a storm event to re-supply communities with essential items and in some cases do that search and rescue that's required.

HOST: You were Mayor of the Bega Valley during the Black Summer fires. What have the lessons been in recent years about how important that aerial firefighting capability can be?

MCBAIN: I think as a Federal Government, we've come a long way since the 2019-2020 Black Summer Bushfires. Since we've been in Government, since 2022, we've established the National Emergency Management Agency. We contribute about $50 million a year to our National Aerial Firefighting Fleet. We've established the National Emergency Stockpile which is all about making sure we've got emergency supplies like accommodation and generators and the like for immediately post a disaster to help states and territories. And we're obviously investing through our Disaster Ready Fund in risk reduction and mitigation measures for communities right across the country.

HOST: There have been concerns about being able to call Triple-0 on the eve of the emergency season. Issues with the recent Optus outage, headlines today that some Samsung phones can't contact Triple-0. How concerning is this?

MCBAIN: Obviously very concerning. I made really clear during that Triple-0 outage with Optus that they needed to do better. Under Australian law, our telcos are required to make sure that they have Triple-0 option available to their consumers at all times. And we made really clear to Optus, but also TPG and Telstra, the expectations headed into this higher risk weather season, that those calls always need to be able to go through. And I'm really pleased that they've now taken part in an exercise with NEMA to establish what may happen in a circumstance where it goes out again and really sort of war game what they would do if this situation was to occur again.

HOST: When it's a case like certain phones, certain makes and models that might be older, no longer able to make triple zero calls for whatever reason. What can government do to try to rectify that problem?

MCBAIN: Yeah, well again this is an issue for the telcos. Their customers are in contracts with a number of those telcos with the expectation that emergency calling will always be available to them. So, the telcos need to work with those consumers where they may have handsets that don't have that capability any longer. And I want the telcos to be proactive in reaching out.

HOST: 25 past 5 on ABC NSW, you're hearing from the Minister for Emergency Management, Kristy McBain, also Minister for Regional Development and Local Government. Regional airline Rex has found a buyer, Air T, based in America. How confident are you that it'll keep operating all the routes that it currently services in regional Australia?

MCBAIN: Yeah, we said from day one when Rex went into administration that our Government would back regional aviation and we would be a buyer of last resort if the administrators couldn't find one. They've been able to find a buyer in Air T, which is US based. They run a range of FedEx flights across the US but they are also very familiar with the Saab aircraft and have a range of them available to them. So, we've made clear our expectation that regional aviation continues across the country and there are still a couple of issues to sort through, including the next creditors meeting to finalise that deal. But really pleased with the administrators being able to source a buyer and looking forward to regional aviation continuing strong across a number of our states and territories with Rex as that lead airline.

HOST. So, is it your expectation that Rex flights that currently exist will continue under a new buyer?

MCBAIN: Well, that'll obviously be a commercial decision for Air T, who will be hopefully operating Rex pending these final issues that need to be dealt with. But the Albanese Labor Government has said from day one that any buyer has to be prepared to continue to service our regional markets and that's our expectation that they will continue to do that.

HOST: Just on that issue of creditors, there are some councils, Dubbo for example, who are creditors themselves and therefore are owed money by Rex, should they get that money?

MCBAIN: Again, this will be a matter for the creditors meeting which is coming up. So, that will be a discussion between the administrators and the creditors before any potential sale proceeds.

HOST: Could there potentially be support from the Federal Government for those creditors, particularly councils, if there's not able to be that money paid by Rex?

MCBAIN: We've provided, I guess, a range of surety to date already to ensure that this process of a sale of Rex went through. We haven't been asked to finalise any other debts, but we'll see what the outcome of that meeting is between creditors and the administrators going forward.

HOST: Kristy McBain, thanks very much for your time this afternoon.

MCBAIN: Good to be with you.