Australia commits billions of dollars to wildfire recovery
NICK PERRY and KRISTEN GELINEAU
Associated Press
SYDNEY (AP) — Australia's government on Monday said it was willing to pay "whatever it takes" to help communities recover from deadly wildfires that have ravaged the country.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government was committing an extra 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion) toward the recovery effort in addition to the tens of millions of dollars that has already been committed.
"The fires are still burning. And they'll be burning for months to come," Morrison said. "And so that's why I outlined today that this is an initial, an additional, investment of $2 billion. If more is needed and the cost is higher, then more will be provided."
His announcement came as authorities said two more people were missing in remote