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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/floods-cost-australia-billions.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="An entire shopping mall is submerged outside Ipswich, west of Brisbane, Australia (AP)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/min-floods-cost-australia-billions.jpg" alt="An entire shopping mall is submerged outside Ipswich, west of Brisbane, Australia (AP)"/></a></p>
<p>Deadly floodwaters that have swamped huge parts of Australia will cost the nation one billion Australian dollars (£622.8 million) in agricultural losses and billions more in lost coal exports, the nation&#8217;s treasurer has said.</p>
<p>The damage figures released by federal Treasurer Wayne Swan were the first official estimates of the financial fallout from the floods, and come one day after the government unveiled a proposal to institute a temporary tax to help pay for the disaster.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is going to be, most likely, our most costly economic disaster in our history,&#8221; Mr Swan said.</p>
<p>Heavy rains that began in November caused massive flooding across the country that has claimed 35 lives and damaged or destroyed 30,000 homes and businesses.</p>
<p>Brisbane, the country&#8217;s third-largest city and the capital of hard-hit Queensland state, was under water for days.</p>
<p>Initial estimates of the overall damage plus the cost of emergency grants to flood-affected communities for the federal government is 5.6 billion Australian dollars and likely to rise, prime minister Julia Gillard said as she announced a plan for a temporary tax to help pay the bill.</p>
<p>The tax would apply to those with above-average incomes and exclude anyone affected by the floods. Those with incomes between 50,001 and 100,000 Australian dollars would pay 0.5%, and those above would pay 1%, raising an estimated 1.8 billion Australian dollars. The legislation will be introduced to Parliament next month.</p>
<p>Mr Swan said that the nation&#8217;s gross domestic product growth in the 2010-2011 fiscal year is expected to be 0.5% lower than previously forecast because of the floods.</p>
<p>One of the main triggers for the drop is the billions of dollars in expected production losses from Queensland&#8217;s lucrative coal industry. Queensland produces about 80% of Australia&#8217;s exports of coking coal, which represents about 10% of the nation&#8217;s exports, Mr Swan said.</p>
<p>Damage to Queensland&#8217;s crops was also expected to be extensive, with agricultural losses estimated to reach one billion Australian dollars, Mr Swan said. Tourism has also taken a hit, with an estimated loss of 300 million Australian dollars. &#8220;Australians are going to see the impact of this on the economy, particularly in the March quarter, and they&#8217;re going to feel it at the supermarket checkout,&#8221; Mr Swan said. &#8220;The floods have wiped out a significant part of our nation&#8217;s food bowl.&#8221;</p>
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