Australian Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Monday that it's too early to quantify the impact of disastrous floods on the nation's economy.
Describing the floods as "in economic terms, the biggest natural disaster in our history", Swan said there would no doubt be an impact on growth, but he added that the rebuild would also act as a stimulus later in the year.
Swan made his comments after a Brisbane meeting of the federal floods taskforce, which has brought together Australia's brightest business minds to discuss ways to help the flood recovery.
The taskforce is chaired by Swan and among its 10 members are Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten, Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser, trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, supermarket giant Woolworths chief executive Michael Luscombe, Leighton Holdings chief executive David Stewart and Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout.
Swan said the board would work within the business community to shore up more monetary and in-kind donations to help the state get back on its feet.
"These were very important commitments," he told reporters in Brisbane after the meeting.
"But what was really special about the meeting today was that that community spirit that we've seen on the ground with volunteers over the past couple of weeks was also there in the room today because business understands that responding to a disaster of this size and scale requires an unprecedented commitment."
Several big businesses have already dug deep to give to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal, including miner BHP, which gave 10 million AU dollars (9.89 million U.S. dollars).
Meanwhile, Queensland Treasurer Fraser said he would release the state's mid-year budget outlook, which would contain no new taxes but would predict a slowing of growth in the first half of 2011.
However, he supported a possible federal flood levy to help in the rebuild.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who spoke to reporters before the meeting, said she would make a decision on whether to introduce a flood levy when the full extent of the damage was known.