Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

I rise enormously grateful to be able to speak on this resolution that was brought before the House before the member for Macquarie and that I'm very proud to have seconded. I want to recognise and put on the public record her enormous work with her community, which suffered so much. They've had their trials in Macquarie through bushfire and flood, and she has been indefatigable. She was there with her community, providing support and working. I know and she recognised in her contribution that the lion's share of the work was done by so many in her community to help others in need. It is important that the House have these moments to reflect on what we've gone through. We don't get to have those opportunities if people like the member for Macquarie aren't putting these resolutions forward.

These floods caused a billion dollars in damage and affected 63 local government areas, including Blacktown City, in which the federal seat of Chifley resides. They were massive. Sustained rainfall resulted in a once-in-50-years flood. Many Chifley residents had a nervous few days waiting to see how high the floodwaters would rise. Some of us were lucky that the floodwaters didn't reach our homes, but others weren't so fortunate. Residents from Shanes Park through to Mount Druitt and elsewhere across the LGA were hit very hard.

I pay my sincere gratitude to the men and women of the Mount Druitt and Blacktown SES, who gave up much of their own time to help others deal with this situation during the floods. For example, Blacktown SES received roughly 170 calls for assistance, conducted three flood rescues and sandbagged 50 premises, preventing further flooding, while Mount Druitt SES received 90 calls for help, carried out swift-water rescue in Shanes Park and helped with 79 leaky roofs and with countless reports of fallen trees, some of which were dangerously close to power lines.

Our SES volunteers didn't just help out people in their immediate area; they helped crews across the Hawkesbury with doorknocking, rescues and then helping late into the night. I want to thank SES Local Commander Alan Rollinson, and, at Blacktown, the Blacktown Unit Commander, Barry Wademan, and his unit which included Matthew Elliot, Terrence Siriwardena, Jonathon Giddey, Andrew Mottershead, Emily Zarb, Adrian Apalakis, Daniel Groom, Ryan Rewi and Anthony Featherstone, all of whom volunteered at least 90 hours each over the course of the floods. And, in Mount Druitt, I dropped in recently to personally extend my thanks to the Commander there, Sue Flynn; her Deputy Commander Jeff Hickson, who helped rescue two children from a capsized boat in the Hawkesbury; Sue's other Deputy Commander, Daniel Scavles, who led the unit when Sue was stuck in floodwaters; Patrick Lockman; Katrina Staples; Derek Read; Nathan Pearse; Wilkanya Burke; Anthony and Kellie Jarvis; Hannah Staples; Lyall Watts; Brad Bruen; Brad Wilson; Lamilo and Natalie Tauveve; John Alofi; Kevin and Cheryl Wing; and I'm sure there are a lot more—please forgive me if I've overlooked anyone. You all worked tirelessly. We all extend our thanks to you for what you did.

Now the waters have subsided, the recovery option is still ongoing—and was underway from the moment that things started to clear up. Obviously businesses along the Hawkesbury and the member for Macquarie's electorate are still reliant on working waterways to get back to work, but the damage to the environment through the debris build-up and corrosion has been prohibitive for businesses and residents living along the Hawkesbury.

In my own backyard, in particular what struck me was the number of leaky roofs in public and social housing dwellings. I think this has been unacceptable. The local state members' offices, both for Edmond Atalla and Prue Car, received a record number of calls from people in Housing NSW properties whose roofs couldn't hold up against the rain, and this shows you if the money's not there for maintenance people pay for this at times like this and this stuff needs to be sorted out. And what does it say about a New South Wales Liberal government? That those most vulnerable in our community didn't have a safe roof above their head at the time they needed it most.

Having said all that, the floods did remind us of the true force of nature. We do need people to be there at that point when it hits us, and the courageous actions of our SES and others in the community and what they did to help those most vulnerable will not be forgotten. And, if anyone in our area is still affected by that—we've been sorting out some issues as we've gone along, but—please don't sit back, please contact either myself or your local state members, and we'll be more than happy to assist.

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