Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the comments of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Paterson and all those who have contributed to discussion of this important motion which recognises the ferocity of the recent rains and floods in the Hunter Valley, the lives that were lost as a result, the damage done and the suffering which was felt by so many people. It is a reminder that, despite all our knowledge, innovation and technology in this 21st century, we are no match for Mother Nature. When Mother Nature grows angry—and we have seen Hollywood capitalise on this concept on many occasions—as human beings we have no response. I am glad the member for Paterson is here because—and maybe this is not the time—he knows that I have not been the most enthusiastic promoter of policies to deal with the concept of our changing climate. I have always promoted an incremental and modest approach in keeping with the global community but it is clear to me that, if there is any doubt at all that human activity is causing the weather to become less predictable and more volatile than ever before then we should take out that insurance policy and as politicians globally we should be doing all we can to mitigate dramatic and variable climate change.

Like the member of the Paterson, I have never seen rain fall as it did on 20 April and a couple of days after. As the member for Paterson said, it was very isolated, as though someone had an open tap above certain parts of our electorates. It just rained and rained and rained, until we were sure it could not possibly rain anymore and it did. As indicated by others, that caused flooding which has never been seen. It might not have been like the 1955 flood in general terms but it was more than the 1955 flood in isolated areas, as the member of Paterson has indicated. Indeed, in Dungog it was enough to just wash houses away, in one case tragically leading to the death of three highly regarded local citizens, including veterans Brian Wilson and Colin Web, and very sadly Robyn McDonald, all in their more mature years and all contributors to their local communities. Also in my own electorate we lost Anne Jarmain, an 86-year-old woman who had gone to the shops in Maitland from Gillieston Heights to pick up a carton of milk. She was washed off the road on her way back to Gillieston Heights. There is plenty of tragedy around these events.

Interestingly, on the Monday afternoon I went to Sydney for a meeting and was not able to get home to the Hunter Valley. I am now 53 years of age and am a regular traveller from the Hunter Valley to Sydney. As you can imagine, that was a first me. It reminds me to thank goodness for the Hunter Expressway. When local roads or main roads to the various towns through the Hunter Valley were blocked off, save for a few hours, the Hunter Expressway delivered the artery we needed throughout the valley.

Going back to my theme about our 21st century knowledge and expertise and the technologies now available to us, I find it extraordinary that major townships can still be isolated by flood. Of course there will always be cases where that is unavoidable, where you cannot invest government funds to cater for a one-in-100-year event. There will always be examples like that. But, when major towns like Gillieston Heights near Cessnock and Kurri are completely isolated from the rest of the community for a number of days without power and the rest of it, we have a problem. When the major highway through one of the most significant inland cities—Maitland—is cut for a number of days, I think we have a serious problem and I think it is incumbent upon all three levels of government to have a close look at those issues and to design and develop a strategy and come up with some funding solutions.

Part of the road across what is known as Testers Hollow near Gillieston Heights has been very topical in this debate post the storm events. That project certainly needs to be addressed, but so too does the main road through Maitland and so too do many other roads around the region. The community of Wollombi was also isolated. But the idea of Gillieston Heights, a large community, being completely isolated is a new one for all of us. It certainly has not occurred in my 53 years, and I travelled that road going to high school at Marist Brothers High School in Maitland from Cessnock. The water used to come over the road from time to time, but we had never seen the floodwaters this high. We certainly had not seen the floodwaters engulf the road on the other side of Gillieston Heights between that township and Maitland. So I think we need to have a hard look at those issues again. In this modern society, large communities on the edge of a major city like Maitland should not be isolated and certainly should not be isolated for that period of time.

Like the member for Paterson before me, I want to pay tribute to a whole range of people. It is always fraught with danger because I will miss some. Minister Keenan is at the table, and I thank him for his call. I also thank the Deputy Prime Minister for calling me, expressing an interest and, like the minister, extending any assistance they could give. I think the government's response was swift and appropriate. People would always like us to do more, but that is not always possible. I think the swiftness of the response of the New South Wales government was similarly appropriate, so I thank both governments. Of course I thank our emergency services personnel both paid and volunteer. The member for Paterson spoke about the SES and its origins out of the '55 floods. All of those people did a magnificent job, but so did all our other emergency services people: police, ambulances, those manning our emergency services in our local hospitals, our charities. There were many, so it is dangerous naming them again. The member for Paterson mentioned Ozzie Care, and we have the Samaritans, Vinnie's and the list goes on and on.

I want to make a special note of the community of Gillieston Heights. They received a lot of attention because, again, it was very unusual for a large community so close to Maitland to be cut off in the way they were. It was interesting to see people rally there. I think that, like many towns like that where urban sprawl has given us the mortgage belt look and sometimes people would argue there is not the sense of community that existed in the old settlement patterns of towns, this event, as bad as it was, seemed to transform that community. It brought that community together. The community rallied. I was very pleased to jump in a tinnie myself to go across to the town and help them organise their Anzac Day service because they were all unable to attend one. That was the service for the Centenary of Anzac, and I was happy to help them with that, but that was a rallying point for the community. There is now a Facebook page born out of the flood, and I think it will continue into the future. They did an excellent job. There is one group there that I did not mention, and that is all those volunteers who turned up with their boats. On one side of Gillieston Heights was the SES boats; on the other side, the Kurri side, were the guys who just turned up with their tinnies, their fishing boats and even their jet skis in order to ferry supplies and take people, including me, backwards and forwards. It is a great tribute to them. Like all those other SES volunteers and others, it was not a role without risk—not only to them but also to their boats, because you had debris floating around, and they had to be very cautious.

I will end where I began in talking about natural disaster. This would be an opportunity for me to reflect on all those who have lost their lives in Nepal and the second earthquake—second or third, whatever it is now—and the tragic loss of life. I know that all of us together today will be thinking of those who have lost people and those who are still suffering the consequences of those quakes. I pay tribute to all of those in Australia who are making great efforts to raise money on their behalf, including, by the way, the partner of my daughter. He was trekking in Nepal and arrived back from Nepal three days after the first major quake. To his great credit, James Tatham, and his mate Jack, are trekking somewhere across New South Wales—I cannot remember exactly where now or how far they are trekking—as a tribute to the people they have grown to know and love in Nepal. They are raising money for the cause, like so many other Australians are appropriately doing. (Time expired)

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