PETER FEGAN, 4BC: The Premier said wherever possible, he wants Queenslanders to get back to work as well and open for business, so expect that to be pretty swift as well, once this weather clears and it's safe to do so, imagine the Premier will make that call. Elective surgery updates will be communicated directly to patients via the health department, but the Premier will stay across that as well. So far, you couldn't fault the performance of Queenslanders through this is also- as well is what he's been reiterating this morning. And I've got to say, from where I've been sitting and from 4BC listeners, it has been absolutely brilliant. And I tell you somebody else that will really reiterate that message will be the Federal Aged Care Minister, Anika Wells, who joins me on the line. Minister, it's been a really good display by Queenslanders, I've got to say.
ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND MINISTER FOR SPORT: Yeah. Good morning to you, and good morning, Queenslanders. I think we did better than we hoped overnight. And we're not out of the woods yet, but things are looking really promising.
FEGAN: Yeah they are. We're not out of the woods just yet. How did the north side of town go? You're obviously the member for Lilley. The north side of town was expected to be hardest hit. How did you fare through the night?
WELLS: We've currently got power out in just over 2000 homes. Most of those are in Brighton, and Brighton has about 1300 homes without power at the moment. Northgate's got around 900 homes without power out and then Nudgee Beach has 100 homes without. If you see any power lines down when you're out this morning walking the dog or what have you, do not go near them. And I think, as you would have seen the Premier say, the biggest risk for us now is flooding. There are, on average, 12 flood related drowning deaths every single year. That is now the risk for us. So don't drive through it, don't let kids play in it whilst we wait for the rain to ease.
FEGAN: Now, Minister, I've also had a lot of text messages here this morning. We hope you might be able to help us out here. Aged care facilities, state and private owned. I know the private sector is a little bit out of your portfolio, but the state owned- or the federal owned aged care facilities, I should say - which are also state run as well - without power, without generators. Is that something that I mean, should they have generators? Do you know much about it, like should they be powered up?
WELLS: So one of the things we did on coming to government was require that every home had a risk management plan in place. So evacuations, something that happened early on in the term is the bushfires down in Victoria. That obviously looks like flooding or cyclones here. So we've been in continuous contact with them, checking on their supplies and arranging fuel for those generators where it's required. And I know that your callers have raised concerns about TriCare Ashgrove and Wellington Park Care too, and I've had my department check in on both of those places since your callers raised the alert. So thank you for that. And I'm due another update from my department at 8.30. So another seven minutes.
FEGAN: Okay. Brilliant. And you'll be able to relay that to us. There was a few calls here, and if any more pop up I'll send them over to your team as well. So you're checking on those now?
WELLS: We are. We've checked in on the two that have been raised. And like you said, just- if anyone wants us to check in directly, we're happy to do that. Keep the lines of communication open. We have had some evacuations already. We had BlueCare Alexandria Hills evacuate earlier this week. Some of those residents are at Wesley, some have gone to other BlueCare residential homes. We're not anticipating further evacuations, but obviously, if those homes make that decision, we help facilitate that, make sure the SES is on site, that kind of thing.
FEGAN: Yeah. I mean, in terms of- you know, let's put it into context, Minister, in terms of what we thought we might have been to where we are now, I think we've done a pretty good job. I mean, look, I don't want to lure us all into a false sense of security because there is some rain coming. But I've got to say, it's a sense of calm here this morning, I think most people are feeling the same way. Very few- and there's been an anxious few nights, but it's nice to wake up this morning and the winds to ease, I think.
WELLS: Yeah, that's right. I think- I've actually created a little cyclone cave in the walk-in robe for my kids because I was worried about the noise of the wind. They're actually in there now because they sort of woke up this morning and said, right, are we going into the cave or what? Well, I don't want to disappoint. So they're in there now. It is good, I think it's certainly a lot better than what we were preparing for, we were hoping for the best. It's looking okay for us on the north side, particularly because we've had high tide now. We've got pretty low tides expected over the next 24 hours. It's been relatively dry for us, so the ground's not too wet. So we are still expecting heavy rainfall. But hopefully the combination of those conditions, plus the five days of preparation that everyone's put in, will mean that we do a bit better than we hoped.
FEGAN: Good on you, Minister. Thanks for jumping on the line. We've got to get off because your boss is up in about five minutes. Is he going to call an election? He's categorically denied that he's going to, but.
WELLS: Yeah. Look, I'll be standing by. I've got my aged care briefing at 8.30, so I'll miss the PM. I trust that you'll have it all in hand.
FEGAN: We will. Good on you, Minister. Thank you very much. And thanks for the update. Yeah, and if you do get an update on those, let me know and I'll update it for you.
WELLS: Will do.
FEGAN: Good on you. There she is, the Aged Care Minister, Anika Wells.