Sukkar escalates row over pace of disaster response - Sydney Morning Herald

The federal government claimed it had to wait for state premiers to ask it to declare a national emergency despite new laws giving Canberra the power to issue the declaration on its own.

Labor emergency services spokesman Murray Watt said the scale of the problem had been clear at least a week earlier, when floodwaters rose sharply around Lismore and other towns on February 28, and t… [+3546 chars]

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