The floods that have devastated Queensland and parts of NSW, Victoria and Tasmania have taken a terrible toll with lives lost, homes, businesses and crops destroyed and whole communities faced with the overwhelming task of rebuilding and starting again. The Australian Greens, like all Australians want to do everything in our power to reach out to those affected, to offer them our support and to help in whatever way we can.

We support the immediate payments of flood relief and we know that people will be worrying about whether their home and business insurance will cover the damages and how they will cope beginning again. We know that community leaders will be seeking financial support from the state and federal governments to replace critical infrastructure like bridges, roads, water and sewerage treatment plants. The Treasurer Wayne Swan has already said that the financial costs will make it hard to meet the Government's aim to be back in surplus by 2013 without cutting other areas of the budget.

So to ensure that the federal government has sufficient funds to meet the costs of reconstruction without cutting other areas such as health and education, Senator Brown called for the federal government to restore the full Super Profits tax as it applies to coal mining companies. Such a move would need to be instigated quickly if the funds are to be forthcoming in the required timeframe.

Senator Brown singled out coal mining companies as having a greater responsibility to contribute to the restoration effort because the burning of fossil fuels which is related to their core business is the major contributor to global warming which is causing the greater intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. As the oceans become warmer, there is higher evaporation and higher rainfall. This will be more intense in a La Nina period. Australia has always had floods, cyclones, fires and droughts but global warming is making these events more intense and more frequent. Whereas once terms such as one in a hundred year flood or drought had meaning, now these levels are being exceeded more frequently. The last decade has been the hottest globally since records began.

It was only a few years ago that former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie promised to build cyclone shelters along the Queensland coast recognising that cyclones were likely to move further south and be more intense. Governments and the coal industry know the risks.

The coal industry is multinational in its ownership and its profits largely go overseas. Australia is one of the major global exporters of coal and whilst the industry will be affected, it is well insured and will invoke "force majeure" provisions to avoid penalties in failing to fulfil supply contracts. Whilst spreading doubt about global warming, this industry is well prepared for the impacts of its actions on its own bottom line. Whereas thousands of Australians were unprepared and are now struggling to come to terms with what has happened to them.

Why shouldn't the full risks and costs to the community be taken into account when setting the tax rate for coal companies? Why should the community shoulder the burden through federal budget cuts rather than have the coal industry internalise the costs of its ongoing operations?

To avoid a case of privatising the profits and socialising the costs, it is time that the shareholders who accrue private profit from mining coal, bear their fair share of the costs of the consequences of their actions and pay the super profits tax.

When the federal parliament resumes the Australian Green Senators together with Adam Bandt will work with the Government to facilitate recovery programs as quickly and efficiently as possible. This is the time for everyone to work together in families, communities and the parliament to ease the pain, address the immediate needs and anticipate future risks.