FED:Floods kick off COAG agenda

AAP General News (Australia)
02-13-2011
FED:Floods kick off COAG agenda

CANBERRA, Feb 13 AAP - A new strategy to tackle natural disasters has kicked off the
agenda at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Canberra.

State and territory leaders are locked in talks with Prime Minister Julia Gillard at
Parliament House, with the key discussions focusing on a new health deal.

But sources close to the talks say the first hour was devoted to receiving an update
on the floods recovery and the damage to north Queensland from Cyclone Yasi.

The leaders are also understood to have discussed a national resilience strategy to
better handle disasters.

The strategy - which came out of a meeting of emergency service ministers in Canberra
on Friday - is expected to include an overhaul of building codes and housing development
principles, as well as making better use of new technology for early-warning systems.

A lunch in Ms Gillard's office which was expected to go for an hour went more than
half an hour overtime, as some of the state and territory leaders met for the first time.

A media conference is expected no earlier than 5.30pm (AEDT).

AAP pjo/sb/mp

KEYWORD: COAG FLOODS

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