Shane Stone, Coordinator-General of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency, told a Senate estimates committee on Thursday afternoon he "continuously" found Australians now recovering from devastating disasters expected the "taxpayer will step up".

"We've probably lifted the bar so high, that there is now an expectation that state and federal government will just step up and pick up the pieces," he said.

"Now, that's not a criticism, that's a fact. That's where we are in Australia at the present time."

He cited a flooding event in the North Queensland town of Charters Towers in the 1970s, where people "just got on with it".

Mr Stone, a former Northern Territory chief minister and Liberal party president, was appointed to the position by the federal government in 2019.

Earlier, the hearing was told government officials discussed a national emergency declaration as NSW flooded, 10 days before Scott Morrison made the announcement.

A senior official from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet told senators members of the government's Crisis and Recovery Committee considered a declaration at three meetings in the lead-up to the prime minister's announcement.

The first meeting discussing the possibility was held on February 27. Lismore's flood levee was breached a day later.

Two other meetings followed, with the final held a day before the declaration.

"As we watched the persistent nature of the weather event unfold, we realised we were watching something that might lead us down that path," the official told the hearing.

Mr Morrison visited the regional city in northern NSW on March 9, having finished his week-long COVID-19 isolation, and declared a national emergency that same day.

He defended the delay, telling parliament the state of emergency assists with recovery efforts after the flood event.

"It does not trigger payments or ADF involvement," he said in question time on Thursday.

"Those two things are the things we did immediately."

An emergency declaration gives the federal government the ability to quickly send resources and respond to disasters by streamlining processes.

The hearing was told the decision to make the declaration rested with the prime minister, who had to be satisfied the crisis could cause "nationally significant harm".

The prime minister told parliament he consulted with the premiers of Queensland and NSW before making the declaration.

"The premier of Queensland did not wish us to declare a state of emergency in Queensland, I listened to her and I took her advice. The premier of NSW was happy (for us) to do so," he said.

Labor senator Murray Watt asked if Mr Morrison had waited to make the announcement once he had come out of isolation for the publicity and media attention.

"This is a prime minister who is well known for his addiction to marketing and making announcements," Senator Watt said.

"You're telling me it's just a coincidence that he waited until the day he came out of isolation when he could be in Lismore surrounded by TV cameras, before he declared a national emergency."

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham hit back at the accusation and said Senator Watt "enjoyed a cheap shot", as the declaration was made following the latest meeting by officials providing information.

Australian Associated Press