Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Since 2016 we've had five major storms taking out power lines across large parts of my electorate. Each time, thousands of homes and businesses have been without power. No power means no phone and no internet as telco infrastructure relies on the electricity grid. Most recently, the February storms left many parts of the electorate without power for days on end. Businesses couldn't open and the local economy ground to a halt. Many residents continue to be without phone lines and some still have no idea when they'll be restored. And now, just this week, a tree fell and took out power in Brooklyn. It took over 12 hours for the power to get up and going again.

Running a business, completing school assignments and managing day-to-day life without power, internet and phone just aren't possible in 2020. In recent days, I've met with Telstra and NBN to talk about how they can improve the resilience of telecommunications in my electorate. I've also written to the council and the minister responsible for Ausgrid and urged them to reconsider their tree management policy. The balance between protecting trees and protecting homes, businesses and essential services is out of whack. We can't stop lightning from striking and we can't silence the wind, but we can remove hazards from around power poles and phone lines, and people should be able to remove hazards from their own property.

I'm for the tree canopy; it distinguishes our community. But when it comes to tree management we need much more common sense in relation to that policy.

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