MINISTER FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, KRISTY MCBAIN: Well good afternoon everyone. It’s great to welcome you here to the National Situation Room. I'm with Coordinator-General of our National Emergency Management Agency, Brendan Moon, and we just wanted to give a brief update about Tropical Cyclone Fina, which is impacting the Northern Territory at this point in time.

That is a small, dynamic cyclone that we are seeing there. Currently a level one, but increasing intensity to a level two category tropical cyclone as it moves over Cape Don and we are expecting that to impact that area later this afternoon and tonight, with the potential moving over towards Darwin on Saturday night.

Yesterday, I contacted the Chief Minister for the Northern Territory, Lia Finnocchiaro, to discuss with her any additional assistance they may require. NEMA has already pre-deployed officials into the area. We have implemented our national coordination mechanism, and we are arranging a range of strategic planning issues. We remain ready to assist if there are any requests for assistance, but again, we will see what that means as that tropical cyclone passes Cape Don. It is really important now for community to listen to those emergency warnings from Secure NT, their emergency radio broadcasting channels, and we are asking community members to look out for vulnerable community members as well. It is really important that we heed the advice of our emergency authorities right now. As we said, we expect Cape Don to be impacted later this afternoon or tonight. The Emergency Operations Centre in Darwin is stood up. There are a range of things that are already in place. We have pre-deployed a range of generators into the area already, and we'll continue to work with the Northern Territory Government over the next 24 to 48 hours on other requests for assistance. But I'll ask Brendan to give an update as well.

NEMA COORDINATOR GENERAL, BRENDAN MOON: Thank you Minister. With this particular system, Tropical Cyclone Fina, we are expecting risks of destructive winds, storm surge and associated coastal flooding, as well as torrential rain and riverine and also flash flooding. We would also expect from this system that we will get disruption to essential services in communities from Cape Don all the way west through the Northern Territory and Western Australian border. We've been working very closely with the Northern Territory emergency management services to ensure that Commonwealth support is available to all of those communities, both before the event, during the event, and post the event. As you've heard from the Minister, we have a crisis coordination team and also two Liaison Officers embedded within the Northern Territory Emergency Management Operations Centre at this time, conducting crucial planning to support those communities during this particular event. We've also conducted, yesterday, a national coordination mechanism which involved all Commonwealth Government agencies to ensure that the requisite planning and support is in place to assist the Northern Territory communities as this event passes through the region. And importantly, we have stood up the National Emergency Management stockpile, which, as the Minister has touched on, includes temporary emergency shelter, power, water supply, sewerage, reticulation and a range of other services that may speed up recovery after this particular event. But certainly the message to Northern Territory communities at this particular point in time is now to listen to your emergency services, listen to the Bureau of Meteorology, the warnings, and take action. Ensure that you have an emergency plan and also an emergency kit available to help you weather this particular event. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: Minister. I guess, first off, do you expect that you will need to deploy further resources to the NT to help in the kind of subsequent phase of this disaster? And second to that, what kind of timeline do you believe needs to be on that, given the impacts that this storm could have on roads, air strips, that kind of thing?

MCBAIN: Obviously, we don't know at this point in time what the damage may be in local communities in Cape Don, across the Tiwi Islands, or on the Northern Territory mainland. We will continue to work with the Northern Territory Government on any request for assistance. At this stage, as Brendan has explained, we've got NEMA officials embedded in the Emergency Operations Centre, and we are already working on some of those strategic planning issues that may be required long term, including emergency accommodation, water or power generation. But we will continue to work closely with the Northern Territory Government on any request for assistance, and we remain waiting for those requests to come forward if required.

JOURNALIST: Minister, how complex is an emergency like this, given that there are so many remote and isolated communities up into the Northern Territory.

MCBAIN: Yeah, obviously dealing with any

impact of natural disaster is difficult in any community. But when we are dealing with remote communities and island communities, there is an added layer of complexity. That's why we're working really closely with the Northern Territory Government. Over the last 36 hours, NEMA officials have held several meetings with the Northern Territory Government, as I said, we've got NEMA officials embedded in the emergency operations centre up there already, and we've been working with them to understand what may be required if there is significant impact in these communities. We will wait to see what the outcome of this is. But the strong message that I want to send is that we are a government that will work with the Northern Territory Government, with local authorities, to make sure that people are dealt with following any natural disaster, and we remain ready to support the territory with any requests for assistance.

JOURNALIST: Minister there was mentioned before about the stockpile. Are there any other support packages that can be made available.

MCBAIN: Our disaster recovery funding arrangements are open to states and territories following the impact of any natural disaster. That remains the case for this natural disaster. But obviously we will need to wait to see what the impact of this disaster is on any community. And the Northern Territory will then have to make those requests for assistance to the Commonwealth. But our disaster recovery funding arrangements would absolutely apply to tropical cyclone Fina. We'll wait to see the impact and whether there are any requests from the Northern Territory Government.

JOURNALIST: At this stage, how concerned are you about the impacts on Darwin? You've spoken about it crossing the coast at Cape Don, is Darwin a major concern? Or are you more concerned about those more northern communities?

MCBAIN: At this stage, the cyclone has actually changed track a little bit. It's due to sort of move into the Van Diemen's Gulf, but there may still be impacts around Darwin. In particular, we're worried about localized rain that may result in flash flooding. Obviously, any gale force winds can create issues in any community, but we will wait to see how that cyclone tracks before we read too much into it at this stage. But as I said, we're working really closely with the Northern Territory Government. It's really important that we allow emergency authorities in the Northern Territory to do their work first, and we remain committed to supporting them if those requests for support are submitted

JOURNALIST: Minister, you said you have this line of communication with the Northern Territory, especially talking about remote communities. Some of these communities are quite vulnerable. Some islands don't have cyclone shelters. Do you feel like they've been well prepared?

MCBAIN: Not only have I spoken with the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, but I've been actively engaged with the local member, Marion Scrymgour, who represents a vast number of these remote communities, as well as local member Luke Gosling around Darwin and NT Senator Malarndirri McCarthy. We are coordinating really frequently around how we can make sure messages are given out appropriately in these communities, particularly remote communities. We have, as a government, made significant commitments to cyclone shelters and evacuation centres in remote communities.

In particular, Nhulunbuy, Maningrida and Milingimbi. It is really important that we work with the NT government to deliver those. Remote communities have been asking for these to be put in place for a long period of time. The Albanese government has committed over $30 million towards these.

JOURNALIST: What is your message to Territorians, who are at the moment hunkering down, preparing for this storm, watching you on the TV and feeling really nervous about what's to come.

MCBAIN: Yeah, what I would say to Northern Territory communities right now is your fellow Australians are with you. No one in Australia has or is immune from bushfire, from flood or from tropical cyclone. We all know that feeling of waiting for something to come. What I would say is that we are with you. We understand the pressure that you're currently under, and we ask you to continue to heed the advice from emergency services. As communities, we will come together following this and make sure that recovery is done in a way that you need in your local community. So we're committed to making sure recovery works for everyone in not only in the short term, but in the long term as well. The Albanese government has really made sure that, over the last three and a half years in this portfolio that we work really closely with state and territory governments, with local councils and local communities to make sure that we are working closely towards recovery from any natural disaster.

JOURNALIST: Minister, what military involvement is part of the data centre on Christmas Island that's been announced.

MCBAIN: Christmas Island, you know, is another remote territory that I'm responsible for as Minister for territories. It has a really unique footprint in that so much of that island cannot be developed or used. There's been a range of proposals for data centres, for potential rocket launches, for a resort. The community there are really engaged in trying to, I guess, make sure that economic development is done on more than one particular industry, but we will continue to work with the Christmas Island community around a whole range of proposals that are there for Christmas Island. That data centre still in the planning stages. There is some work going on with the Christmas Island local council at this point in time, so I'll leave some commentary on that to later.

JOURNALIST: How would you power it?

MCBAIN: Christmas Island at the moment is, as I said, a remote community that relies on a whole range of diesel generation. There are some proposals, obviously, to make sure that there is renewable energy and battery storage on the island. But again, there is a range of planning considerations before the Christmas Island local council at this point in time. So I won't comment for it further.

JOURNALIST: Minister, your government's been clear that it's worried about increasing natural disasters and the role of climate change in that. What would you say to Australians who are concerned that the Minister responsible for that space is now going to be sharing that responsibility with the COP Summit?

MCBAIN: I think, really importantly, we bid for the COP Summit to make sure that there was a, you know, a concerted effort on what it means right now in some of our Pacific Island communities in terms of climate change. We went to that bid with the best of intentions, but how that proposal works out is that there has to be consensus across the world for a location to be chosen. We took the mature decision that we wanted to keep a spotlight on the Pacific whilst making sure Australia was still a leader in that space. So, Chris Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, will be president of COP 31. There will be a leaders meeting in the Pacific, which is incredibly important, because we want to shine a spotlight on what is currently happening to our Pacific Island friends and neighbours. But I think it's a good thing that Australia is still at the lead, whilst we can make sure that there's consensus across the world about moving towards this. I guess a big challenge for every country in the world around climate change, Australia is, you know, at the forefront of that, and we are seeing that with the increase in intensity and frequency of natural disasters in our own country. Not every natural disaster is the cause of climate change, but we can see from the frequency, the intensity, the widespread nature of some of those natural disasters that climate change is absolutely exacerbating the impacts being felt across every part of the country. Last year alone, there were 70 declared natural disasters, which impacted every state and territory, which impacted almost every local government area. So for some of these communities, it was the cumulative and compounding nature of natural disaster that's had a real impact on business, on industry and on community cohesion. So as a government, we are absolutely focused on what we can do now and into the future in helping communities become more resilient, but most importantly, helping communities prepare for those inevitable natural disasters that do strike our country.

JOURNALIST: Back on Christmas Island, do you expect it will host cloud services for the military?

MCBAIN: I can't comment too much on the proposal at this stage. There are still a range of things that are being put in place. And so I'll leave that commentary for now.

JOURNALIST: Minister, it's understood two Neo Nazis have been charged for threatening, MPs, another man has also been charged for threatening the prime minister, How concerning is this?

MCBAIN: Look, we know the AFP have announced they've made three arrests this week. I think it is really concerning. The AFP have pointed now to, on a number of occasions, to the increasing threat to federal politicians, but politicians more broadly. I'm really pleased that the AFP have done their work, and we have full confidence in the work that they do, which I think is incredibly important. Australians deserve to feel safe no matter what their job title is, and I think it's important work that the AFP have done, and I commend them on it.

JOURNALIST: Do you think parliamentarians have to fear that these threats will actually escalate into violence?

MCBAIN: Unfortunately, we've seen politicians targeted in other countries too, including the US and the UK where unfortunately we've seen the deaths of some parliamentarians because of the ideological nature of some of the people in their own countries. What I would say is I am here as a local member to represent my community. I come to this position not because I wanted power for myself, but because I wanted to represent the community that I live in and that I love. Every politician that I know comes to these positions with that in mind. To represent their local communities. I have people that don't vote for me, that are of a different political persuasion, but we can still have good discussions and good debate about what is happening in our country right now. And I think that's really important for people to keep in mind, is that, like anyone else, politicians are here to do a job, do it to the best of their ability, and represent others in their community, and we should be able to have respectful discussion and debate anywhere in this country.

Thank you.