Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The recent flooding on the New South Wales North Coast has been devastating for our region. Homes and businesses have been severely affected, and many were completely destroyed due to the immense flooding caused by Cyclone Debbie. I would like to express my condolences to the families that have lost loved ones in the floods.

I particularly want to mention the tragic loss of mother Stephanie King and her children—Jacob, aged seven, and Ella-Jane, aged eleven—who perished in their vehicle in the Tweed River. Tweed police have said that Stephanie King was a hero who died trying to save her children. Stephanie King's eight-year-old daughter, Chloe-May, miraculously escaped the car to raise the alarm with local residents.

The massive weather event caused by Cyclone Debbie spread south from Queensland and caused the largest flood we have ever seen. The swiftness with which the rain came was overwhelming. Then we had more rainfall. Up to 400 millimetres fell across the region within a 24-hour period. This, along with the 400 millimetres that had previously inundated the area, left us shocked by the incredible speed, velocity and damage with which this force of nature struck. The record rainfall resulted in thousands of residents being evacuated from flood-affected areas.

So much of this destruction has been heartbreaking. So much has been lost by local families and businesses. I would like to strongly commend our police and emergency service workers, our SES volunteers and our council staff for their outstanding work throughout this event. I would also like to commend our community for coming together and assisting one another.

Whilst locals welcomed the early decision to appoint a disaster recovery coordinator, we have been rightly critical of both the state and federal governments for their lack of funding and commitment to repair and rebuild the North Coast. Our community had to protest and campaign to force the government to commit to category C funding for business assistance. Many smaller villages are still waiting for the activation of category C funding, and some areas, such as the Byron Shire, are still waiting for the activation of disaster relief payments. I call on the government to make sure they are all activated.

I also want to thank both the federal opposition leader and the New South Wales opposition leader for each visiting Murwillumbah and meeting firsthand with and listening to residents, businesses, council representatives, SES volunteers and community groups. I note that the New South Wales opposition leader has subsequently released an 11-point plan to address many of these urgent issues, and he continues to call on the New South Wales Premier to address these very urgent matters.

We have a very strong community, but we need governments that support us. I acknowledge that both the Prime Minister and the New South Wales Premier very briefly visited Murwillumbah soon after the event, but I call on them now to come back for a substantial period of time. Sit down with our community and business leaders and hear their stories. Hear about the action that is needed and help us recover and rebuild our region. What we need is a comprehensive, long-term plan to address the mass destruction caused by the floods. We need much greater funds flowing to affected families, businesses, communities and local governments. We desperately need more funding to address chronic homelessness issues. We need our governments to help us. I was disappointed that last night's budget had no specific, targeted funding, but I call on the state and federal governments today to commit that funding.

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