Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment Participation and Childcare) Share this | Hansard source

The sheer scale of the natural disasters that have affected so many parts of Australia but most particularly Queensland is, quite simply, unparalleled. Floods, cyclones and fires have all done their utmost to wreak far too much havoc across the nation. We know that three-quarters of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone, but I want to make it clear today that the effects, the grief, the shock and the empathy have been felt far, far more widely than that. Like all Australians, my thoughts remain with those who have lost so much in these tragedies—those who are still dealing with the daily grief of having lost family members or friends and the thousands who have suffered shattering effects. Across Queensland, people are already starting the mammoth task of cleaning their properties and reconstructing their homes, businesses and lives. I stand here today to assure them that they will not do so alone.

Whilst in Adelaide we may be far, geographically, from the devastation of the floods, in all other senses we have been right there. We have felt the pain, we have grieved the loss and we have resolved to rebuild alongside our fellow Australians. I rose to speak in the chamber today because I wanted to highlight to those affected the truly remarkable and generous solidarity that I have witnessed in the community that I am lucky enough to represent in this place. The overwhelming message that we send you is to reassure you that we will stand with you in your time of need. I also wanted to place on record my gratitude to those who have stood up as local heroes within the portfolios that I represent and the fact that we will use these portfolios to help ease the recovery process and help the long process of rebuilding.

I cannot explain the generosity that I have witnessed firsthand in my local community. Like so many other members in this place, my office and I have worked hard to assist with fundraising. Standing outside various shopping centres with a bucket in my arms, I cannot tell you the number of times that total strangers who were walking past placed money—in some cases loose coins and in many cases the last note out of their wallet—in that basket whilst remarking: ‘I have already given, but I can’t forget those pictures. I can’t forget the images, the stories I’ve heard, and I’m more than happy to give again.’ We kept hearing this, time and again, in all different parts of the electorate. We heard it from people who had a lot but also from people who had very little but who were more than willing to donate that little.

There were a group of dedicated Adelaidians who organised, wrote, directed and pulled together a charity ‘SA 4 QLD’ pantomime within just a week or so. I must say that the embarrassment and humiliation that I personally felt by taking part in said pantomime was well worth the over $100,000 that was raised in that one night by that one group of South Australians.

My electorate office has become a collection point for the Shoe Boxes of Love initiative, with over 200 shoeboxes being donated from across South Australia. People are bringing these boxes to do anything and give anything that they can to help the pain of total strangers on the absolute other side of our continent. So, to those of you who are affected, I can say with absolute confidence that you are not alone, and the people of Adelaide most certainly stand right with you.

Just as the community will not walk away from the recovery task, neither will the government. Over the previous weeks we have heard some amazing stories of courage. We have heard of some remarkable heroes—from the rescuers, from the SES personnel, from the Army and from a whole range of different service organisations—but there are also thousands and thousands of untold stories of local heroes, of people doing small things within their community and standing up and being counted when it really mattered. I think it is really important that we hear some of these stories too. I would like to take a little bit of time to share with you some of the stories of courage and generosity that I have been lucky to hear from within the portfolios of child care and employment services as well as to inform the parliament what we will be doing in those portfolios to assist with the recovery.

On the days when the floodwaters were at their highest there were a number of instances throughout Queensland of parents physically not being able to collect their children from child care because of localised flooding. One can only imagine when going through these sorts of ordeals how much harder it gets knowing that you cannot be there with your young child during what is a terrifying experience for you both. One such case was at the long day care centre at Withcott. It had become completely isolated. The centre could not be reached by parents; the children could not be reached by their parents. That was on the first night.

That evening staff members went above and beyond the usual call of duty, caring for five very anxious and very scared little people throughout the night because they could not be with their parents. Although I would expect nothing less from the hardworking and dedicated early childhood care staff throughout this country—we are so lucky to have them—this was obviously a particularly difficult day on the job. It was handled with the utmost calm and professionalism. It was done without expectation of thanks or recognition. Today I give credit to the staff members of the Withcott Early Childhood Centre for that extraordinary contribution.

Some 21 Queensland long day care centres have been identified as having significant flood damage that will require medium and in some cases longer term remediation. Nine outside school hours care services have been affected seriously, with most of these services located on the grounds of local primary schools. In addition, 36 family day care services have been affected by floodwaters. Significant damage has occurred in at least 17 of these cases. You can only imagine the double tragedy of losing your house and your business in the same go, because of course that is where they work from.

Many more childcare services have been both directly and indirectly affected. In the case of these services the damage means so much more than a badly damaged building. It means challenges for families in finding alternative care arrangements for their children. It means the loss of a business, which in some cases provides the income for an entire family. It means children losing a home away from home, one which they have formed a personal attachment to and become comfortable in.

There are some remarkably heart-warming responses from local communities, giving all they can to help affected childcare services. In addition to government support to get these centres repaired and back up and running, there has been a tremendous response from communities right across Queensland. The Riverhills Childcare Centre and Kindergarten suffered major flood damage. After the inundation, a volunteer who had come to the area to assist in the clean-up saw the damage and reported it to their church and then arranged for members of that church to become involved. Pretty soon there were over 100 volunteers involved in the clean-up and in donating toys and books so that the centre could recommence operation.

The church assisted in getting the service up and running. They are now planning the next steps of the rebuild. While the children are currently in alternative care and the rebuild will take some time, all associated with this service are determined to get it up and running as soon as possible. A huge amount of progress has been made as a result of the local contributions. The walls are already going up on the rebuild.

Like those communities, the Australian government has acted to provide immediate assistance to childcare services and families using child care in flood affected communities. Measures under local emergency provisions have included providing favourable treatment for absences of care or due to service closure. This decision alone has allowed families and childcare services to access an additional $12.4 million in childcare benefit fee relief just during this emergency period.

Families experiencing financial hardship as a result of the flood disaster have also been able to more readily access the special childcare benefit, which covers the full cost of child care. As at 30 January 2011, around $1.1 million in special childcare benefit entitlements had been provided to affected families. Rules relating to operational subsidies will also be relaxed for eligible childcare services under the Community Support Program to smooth out potential decreases in funding where fewer children have been placed in child care during the emergency period.

As in child care, we will ensure that within employment services we step up to look out for those fellow Australians who have been affected. As always, it is the case with large-scale disasters that those who are hardest hit are often those who can least afford it. There are more than 73,000 unemployed Queenslanders living in flood affected areas and their resources to cope have been sorely tested over the past weeks. I wish to assure the people of Queensland, and indeed all Australians, that all the necessary assistance has been provided to these job seekers and to the employment services that support them.

To ensure that much needed income support has continued to flow to job seekers who have been affected by the floods, Centrelink has implemented a number of measures. Flood affected job seekers are eligible for an exemption of up to 13 weeks from their usual participation and job search requirements. This means that those who have been hardest hit will continue to receive payments from the government without having to actively look for work or take a job if one is offered when they are working on their own rebuild and putting their lives back together. It will allow these individuals to concentrate on rebuilding their lives and supporting their family through the difficult time in the immediate aftermath of the flooding. Activity and personal contact interview rules have also been relaxed, and Centrelink staff have been asked to review any penalty decisions that were made immediately prior to the floods.

Of course, it is not just job seekers who have been affected as a result of the floods but also the hardworking staff who provide job services to the unemployed in these areas. There were 26 employment service providers across 112 sites that were impacted as a result of flooding in Queensland. To put this in context, those services were working directly with over 29,792 job seekers. Fortunately, once the floodwaters had receded and the necessary clean-up and repairs were completed, the majority of employment services were able to reopen and, in the spirit that characterises so many of the hardworking individuals who provide these support services, many immediately applied their minds, their money and their materials to ways that they could help their communities to recover.

One service provider, Mission Australia, established a temporary call centre to assist Volunteering Queensland to manage the many calls from the public wishing to volunteer for flood recovery tasks. Mission Australia volunteers handled over 1,000 calls on behalf of Volunteering Queensland. There was a clear need, and the agency used its organisational capacity and facilities to provide the rapid response that was required.

I should also add that it was not just employment service providers that were willing to pitch in. There were local job service providers who were inundated with calls from their clients asking for advice on how they could come and help, on how they could assist. Job seekers have assisted—whilst being under no formal obligation to do so and in receipt of no remuneration to do so—with cleaning, land clearing and fence repairs.

There have been countless stories, right across Queensland, of people stepping up when the community required them to do so. I want to put on the record just how proud of and grateful for all of those efforts I am.

Obviously, the reconstruction and recovery phase has begun and I believe that in the weeks and months ahead Queenslanders and other Australians will be well served by our employment services. Their priority will be for locals to secure the jobs that will flow during the next phase.

However, we also have to be realistic. The loss of housing and infrastructure, much of it essential to those local economies, has been absolutely incredible. The construction effort will require skills and labour—and, for some months and even years, much additional labour, which will not always be available across the vast distances which were affected by the floods. Acknowledging this, the Prime Minister has announced a doubling of the size of the relocation assistance pilot for people on income support and the directing of it to Queensland. This means that up to 4,000 eligible job seekers who want to get a job helping out with the reconstruction efforts will now receive financial support from the Australian government to move to Queensland with their families and assist with the rebuild.

The only thing that I think will linger longer in my memory than the images of beautiful, sunny Brisbane literally under water or some of those horrific images of cars floating down streets—images that you would never normally dream of seeing—is the strength and determination of Australians, including Queenslanders, in giving generously and in helping each other, their families and neighbours, to rebuild. On the days that the floodwaters peaked, I, like so many Australians, sat watching in awe of the utter devastation caused. It seemed unbelievable, and the task of recovery and rebuilding seemed so very great. But we are already seeing the spirit and the determination of so many to step up and make that a reality, and it is important that, as a parliament, we note that right around Australia there are people who are committed to helping out their fellow Australians during this very tough period.

Of the portfolios I hold, there is one that I have not mentioned yet today: that of the status of women. I want to place on record that I think there is nothing that embodied Australian generosity, and the resilience of Queensland, better than our two female leaders, Anna Bligh and our Prime Minister, doing an extraordinary job, standing up and coordinating these efforts to rebuild. They have done a tremendous job to date. I have every confidence that we will see a state rebuilt stronger and more beautiful than ever. I also want to place on the record my sympathies for and my heartfelt empathy with the people who have suffered during these national tragedies. But we endeavour to rebuild and recover together.

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