Tropical Cyclone Alfred has left a lasting mark on one of Australia's most popular tourism regions, with extensive sand erosion, damaged beach accessways, and coastal infrastructure destruction along the Gold Coast.
“We lost about four million cubic metres of sand—equivalent to roughly 320,000 semi-trailer loads,” said Gold Coast Council, noting that heavy machinery is still working through the extensive clean-up effort.
Federal Treasurer and Logan-based MP Jim Chalmers is set to address the Queensland Media Club tomorrow, where he will announce a jointly funded AUD$30m ($19.8m) recovery package aimed at restoring damaged roads and infrastructure.
Parts of northern New South Wales were also affected by the cyclone’s impact.
The Media Club appearance comes just one week before Chalmers is due to deliver the Federal Labor government’s fourth budget.
“This budget will reflect some of those immediate costs, and we’ll make sensible provisions for more to come,” Chalmers is expected to say, according to a draft of his speech obtained by News Corp, reported Travelweekly.com.au.
“I expect that these costs and these new provisions will be in the order of at least AUD$1.2bn, a substantial amount of money and that means a big new pressure on the Budget,” he said.
As of 13 March, Southern Cross Travel Insurance reported receiving 37 claims from Australian customers, with over AUD$12,000 already paid out in support.