Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the widespread devastation in Lismore caused by flooding associated with Cyclone Debbie;

(2) acknowledges the hard work of the state emergency services, rural fire services, police, fire brigades and Australian Defence Force and other emergency services in responding to the recent flooding and damage caused by Cyclone Debbie in numerous communities in Northern NSW and Queensland; and

(3) congratulates the Australian Government, in conjunction with the NSW and Queensland governments, on their swift response to this event.

At around 4 am on 31 March sirens wailed across the Lismore CBD. For over 20,000 people this noise signified devastation—for some the loss of livelihood, the loss of a home, the loss of a business. It was the first time since the levee built in 2005 was going to overtop. It was built for a 10.6 metre flood, and it overtopped nearly a metre above this.

A severe weather warning had been in place, with predicted rainfall totals from Cyclone Debbie of over 350 millimetres on an already saturated catchment. Nearly double this fell in parts of the catchment. By 12.45 pm on the Thursday a flood warning had been issued. Communities in north and south Lismore started to enact flood plans, some businesses began sending home people who needed to get home and those who stayed started lifting stock away from the predicted flood height. At 3.40 pm on the Thursday, the SES updated the weather warning, and the river was expected to overtop the levee. Businesses in the CBD and in north and south Lismore began to lift stock and remove valuables. By 5.30 pm the SES issued evacuation orders for the CBD. It was almost two days before people could get back into the flood ravaged areas to assess the damage.

The SES and the RFS had volunteers from all over the country. They were joined by the Volunteer Rescue Association and swift water rescue officers, and members of Fire and Rescue New South Wales and extra ambulance and police officers all arrived. Thousands officially volunteered their time to assist the community. Local organisations like the Red Cross set up and ran centres for people who had been displaced by the floods. The community and charities like the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and many others provided much-needed essentials. Support groups like CentreChurch, UnitingCare, the Anglican Pantry, Five Loaves, Winsome Hotel, Lifeline threw open their doors, despite many of them having been affected themselves. Many individuals who had not been affected began delivering food to those who working to restore normalcy to the community.

Other key organisations included the Lismore City Council staff themselves, who went far beyond the call of duty. A massive 11,000 tonnes of property damaged by the flood was removed by the council, to the extent that the council did not have enough room in the local tip and had to have it moved interstate to get rid of it. There was literally tonnes of rubbish lying around the streets, and the council did an amazing job picking it up as quickly as they could.

Southern Cross University, the local university, opened its doors to those who could not return to their home for a number of days. Lismore Helping Hands set up at the train station in South Lismore. Over 900 individuals were involved in this group, which coordinated volunteers across the region to help with flood-affected businesses and households. It was a wonderful example of a grassroots campaign for people to help other people.

I would also like to thank the Lismore Chamber of Commerce—an industry which became really important in the recovery and which spearheaded Lismore's Restart the Heart campaign. They helped me and others in making sure that a category C disaster was declared to ensure that grants were available not just to households but to businesses. We did this within two weeks, which required a lot of work. I would like to thank Deb Benyahon and Andrew Gordon and the whole team who helped organise that campaign and who also helped me organise community meetings to make sure that everyone was aware of the assistance that was available.

Our community is on its way to healing. There are shops opening and the initial damage is slowly being repaired. We are a resilient community and we will rebuild and recover, but this disaster has been a real blow. Many tears have flowed, and hugs have been commonplace. I would like to thank everyone involved. What we have seen with this great devastation in our community, which, as I said, has been a real blow, is the resilience and indeed the joy of the human spirit reflected most in those people selflessly helping other people, whom they often did not even know. We will come back bigger and better, but this will take time to heal.

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