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Queenslands Clive Palmer got some interesting views about helicopter flood rescue...
"QUEENSLAND'S richest man, Clive Palmer, used his company helicopter to rescue four staff from his Cold Mountain Stud in south-east Queensland...
... Mr Palmer's helicopter had also saved about 60 people in the area after emergency services said they had more urgent cases to deal with..."
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Billionaire uses company helicopter to rescue staff
"...So talk about floods: 35 people died in the Lockyer Valley last year in the floods, and I had five workers on top of one of our buildings; 18 hours they waited for a pick-up and it still didn't come. We sent our helicopter into the Lockyer, got those people out and we rescued another 30 people in the Lockyer Valley.
TONY JONES: We've got to leave it there, but I'll make this point. You can respond to this briefly. That you've called for the - I think it's scores of private helicopters in Queensland to be made available to be used in flood emergencies or in other kind of natural disasters, and I'm just wondering who would fly those helicopters?
CLIVE PALMER: Well there's two things. The pilots are regulated with licences by the Commonwealth, and it should be a condition of their licence that in the cases of natural disaster, they will make themselves available with the machine that they're flying for one day at the disposal of the Government.
As we rescued people last year against the advice of the police and saved over 60 lives, 30 rescues that we did, we were told that we couldn't do it and meanwhile there were 40 helicopters on the ground in Brisbane, 20 at the Gold Coast and 10 at the north coast.
If the Government had put them into the air, lives would have been saved. And the defence helicopters were so big that they were combat helicopters, not suitable for rescue and they would blow people off the rooves into the water.
That's what was happening in the Lockyer, that's what we tried to tell the flood inquiry, but they didn't want to let me testify. They didn't want to listen. And I'd endeavoured on three occasions to tell them that I wanted to come and testify and they wouldn't let us do it. And I'm sure the people that we saved know who they are and I'm sure they'll come out and publicly support what I'm saying..."
Lateline - 02/02/2012: Clive Palmer talks to Lateline
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