Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today as the member for Eden-Monaro to update communities about election commitments, particularly the Disaster Ready Fund, which will help our communities prepare for future natural disasters. As Mayor of the Bega Valley Shire Council during the Tathra fires, the Yankees Gap fire and the Black Summer bushfires and as the local member now watching over the recovery, the experience of leading my communities really drives me to demand a strengthened disaster management response in regional Australia. The Disaster Ready Fund seeks to curb the devastating impacts of natural disasters by investing in important disaster prevention projects. Our communities deserve a better, more coordinated approach. The Albanese government is committed to recovery, but it is committed, more importantly, to preparedness, to resilience and to mitigation in our communities.

I'm relieved this bill, the Emergency Response Fund Amendment (Disaster Ready Fund) Bill 2022, will transform the former government's Emergency Response Fund into a dedicated, ongoing source of funding for natural disaster resilience and risk reduction initiatives. This government, through the Disaster Ready Fund, will provide up to $200 million per year to invest in mitigation projects like firebreaks, flood levees, cyclone shelters and evacuation centres around the country. When I travel through my communities across Eden-Monaro—from Batlow to Cobargo, from Braidwood to Kiah—I know from listening to locals who are still struggling with the hurdles and the mental toll of recovery that an ongoing funding source for disaster resilience and risk reduction is going to be much appreciated.

My heart really does go out to everyone affected by recent floods—to those who've lost loved ones and those who've lost their homes, their possessions and their livelihoods. Over the last few weeks, I've spoken with mayors from disaster impacted councils in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. They've talked about the devastating toll taken on communities: the impacts on communities who are facing the loss of loved ones, the mental toll and the tiredness that some communities are facing after multiple floods in the space of only a few months. A one-in-a-hundred-years flood takes a toll on the community at any given stage, but especially when they've received four one-in-a-hundred-years floods in the last two years. The compounding, cumulative impact of those floods, mentally, physically and financially, is really tough.

Mayors have told me that rebuilding roads is going to be difficult and complex. They've told me that some of their recreational assets are no longer covered by insurance. They've told us that accessing supplies is incredibly difficult. We know that when disaster hits in more than one area at any given time there is a stretch on our contractors. They actually lose competitive advantage, because they no longer have multiple contractors bidding to rebuild a road; they might be left with one. The recovery is going to take time in a lot of these areas. I know, nearly three years on from the Black Summer bushfires—Eden-Monaro lost over a thousand homes—that the memories are still very real. We know that there are a lot of people who are still waking up with deep and lasting trauma from that time.

We're not strangers to natural disasters in this country. For anyone who's grown up outside any of our major cities, extreme weather events are part of life. But what we've seen with devastating floods, and what we saw with the Black Summer bushfires, is that these disasters are intensifying and they are causing more damage than ever. We can't stop natural disasters but we can prepare for and prevent the worst. And we could and should learn from the past. I recently met with the Bega Local Aboriginal Land Council—an amazing organisation—on the importance of cultural burning practices. In the lead-up to the Tathra fires in March 2018, this group of individuals did cultural burning on part of their land outside Tathra. It is the only parcel of land that was not burnt during the Tathra fires. We need to listen to communities, we need to strengthen coordination and we need to invest in disaster prevention projects to ensure we're ready for what is to come next.

Over three years, the former Morrison government's Emergency Response Fund didn't complete a single mitigation project. They failed to release a cent in recovery funding. We know it earned them $800 million in interest, though. It did leave us dangerously unprepared for the increasing natural disasters which we are seeing now. We know that we have to prepare for natural disasters, because we want to be able to protect lives and livelihoods and lower the cost of damage in our communities. Additional funding for natural disaster recovery efforts will also continue with this government. It will continue through Commonwealth and state government disaster recovery funding arrangements, so refocusing this fund to deal with mitigation and resilience is not going to stop the recovery process. But we do know that every dollar spent in mitigation will save up to $11 in recovery funds. I'm really proud to be part of a government that is implementing the Disaster Ready Fund. This builds on last night's announcement that an additional $3 billion will be set aside for disaster recovery. We know that, although we have experienced a number of floods this year, there will probably be many more to come over this summer, and this government is already preparing for that.

I'm incredibly proud that this government has put in place a special envoy for natural disaster as well. Our relevant minister, Minister Murray Watt, is doing an amazing job in responding to communities, getting assistant out fast, mobilising ADF support, getting dollars out the door to communities most impacted and standing shoulder to shoulder with local governments to say, 'We will be there to support you and we know how important community recovery is.' The establishment of the Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery adds further to that commitment, because we are seeing more and more disasters happen across the country and we need to make sure that we are prioritising those communities most impacted in their darkest days.

The creation of our new single agency the National Emergency Management Agency is also a step in the right direction to streamline not only response but recovery. For far too long when we have seen natural disasters occur in this country we have tried to reinvent the wheel for recovery processes. I am incredibly proud that this government has listened to communities that have been through natural disasters and said, 'We have heard you, we want to streamline the process and we want to make it easier for you.' Local governments told the former government time and time again that they needed to make it easier for local governments to apply for funding, to get it out the door quick and to make a simple acquittal process. We are now a government listening to that sector and saying, 'We will work on that with you.'

Our communities that have been through significant disaster can't change it. We can't change what we went through, but we do want to know that our lived experience counts for something. The change in policy by the government shows that we were listening. It shows that we were prepared to make a change for the betterment of communities right across this country, with simple things like actually implementing recommendations from the royal commission into the Black Summer bushfires the government has committed to.

This government, as part of its election, also committed to dealing with mobile phone blackspots along transport corridors, especially those that we know are going to be impacted by natural disasters time and time again. I am incredibly proud that I am part of a government that has said to communities, 'We have heard you.' We ask you to look at a phone and an app that tells you when fires are coming. We ask you to follow weather reports. We ask you to heed the warnings. But sometimes, when you are leaving an area, you can't access those because we don't have any mobile phone service. There was no resilience in our telecommunications network and so when mains electricity went out our telephone communication died. This government is writing those wrongs. This government is implementing recommendations from that bushfire royal commission. The government are listening to communities because, for us, all communities matter, especially those that have been through significant trauma from natural disasters.

Again, I want to say to all of those flood impacted communities across three states at the moment—New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania—that we are with you. We know that it is taking a toll not only on your communities but on your livelihoods. We know that agriculture is significantly impacted across the country. We know that it is going to take time to get the recovery right, and we are with you each and every step of the way.

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